Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Marist expansion application gets tough scrutiny by the neighbors at the DeKalb Community Council.



Den Webb of Smith Gambrell & Russell presents the SLUP on the Marist School expansion to the DeKalb Community Council which after listening to neighbors recommended a full cycle deferral.

The final decision is now in the hands of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners.

Marist Expansion - DeKalb Community Council 12222009 from John Heneghan on Vimeo.

4 comments:

Bob Lundsten said...

Both the SLUP application for the late night club and the Marist application both go to the DeKalb Planning Commission for full review, then to the Board of Commissioner for final decision.

Bob Lundsten
DeKalb County Planning Commissioner\District 1

John Heneghan said...

Correct. Bob when are these scheduled to go before the DeKalb Planning Commission and then the Board of Commissioners? Thanks.

John Heneghan said...

Planning Commission Meeting - Tues, Jan 5, 2010 6:30 P.M.

Board of Commissioners Meeting - Tues, Jan 26, 2010 10:00 A.M.

SLUP-10-16023 18-342-12-002

Application of El Reventon Restaurant, Llc to request a Special Land Use Permit to operate a 9,397 square foot late night establishment within the Tilly Mill shopping center in the C-1 (Local Commercial) zoning district. The property is located on The south side of Van Fleet Circle, the east side of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and the west side of Tilly Mill Road, opposite Beacon Drive at 6331 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and 2421 Van Fleet Circle. The property has approximately 644 feet of frontage on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard; 656 feet of frontage on Van Fleet Circle; and 712 feet of frontage on Tilly Mill Road and contains 12.62 acres.

Maloof Center Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive
Decatur, GA 30030

InAtl said...

Thanks for taking and posting this video John.
Its unfortunate Marist has not increased their buffer offer and the lack of information or moving picture is problematic.
Marist does not know the final location for the trail, entry roads, parking lot, etc. etc.
So the only way to secure necessary protections is through setting conditions, such as an undisturbed buffer.
A 75 foot buffer with 50 feet undisturbed is a no brainer in light of the heavy use via the stadium and Marist Campus that will be exposed when the fields replace the existing forest that now is a valuable buffer and storm water management tool.
So putting a trail wide enough for emergency vehicles within 25 feet of the homes means, near the fields, that there is only a 25 foot buffer. Not a good situation.
At the YMCA meeting Marist reps said they would only do security lighting in the parking lot. The conditions just recently received appears to contemplate lights through out the property including along the running trail on poles up to 15 feet. And they wanted poles of 35 feet in the parking lot ( a no no for residential areas). They quickly pulled the lights on the running trail idea but its not clear about the remaining lighting.
Things like Dekalb requires running trails to be wide enough for emergency vehicles or Dekalb requires lighting where people congregate were stated. Unfortunately I'm not yet aware of where in the code that is stated.
Lighting should be used judiciously and recreational areas that are not supposed to be used at night shouldn't have lighting it only invites people.
Unfortunately its still unclear where the floodplain is. Seeing the last 5 year event of rain one would think the entire area is a flood plain. But it was my understanding that the county code doesn't allow removal of healthy trees from a flood plain, which is a good practice since forests do a far better job of managing, holding or controlling flood waters than grass fields do. Grass fields aren't really any better than parking lots in that regard.
Lots of questions and it appears the community council's reco for a full cycle deferal was a good one and hopefully will be implemented.
Thanks again for the video.