Sunday, January 3, 2010

DeKalb Planning Commission to discuss new late night establishment at Friday's Plaza on Tuesday Night

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.

El Reventon @ DeKalb Community Council 122209 from John Heneghan on Vimeo.

2 comments:

John Heneghan said...

After a long wait, the Doraville Delegation of twenty-two dressed in red stood like sentinentals for the entire fifteen minutes to oppose the Special Land Use Permit for El Reventon, 2009 and its extended alcohol pouring hours.

Dr. Dwight Wiest took the floor with an outstanding presentation from a forty year resident of Doraville and Dekalb County, followed by Mr. John Isben, resident on Pontiac Circle and potential business owner in the Tilly Mill Crossing Shopping Center, where he indicated the shopping center should promote family oriented businesses rather than late night adult entertainment. Mr. Stuart Anderson's presentation reflected on the SLUP conditions and the lack there of and offered feasible conditions to consider. Lastly, I took the floor to represent the City of Doraville in its opposition to the SLUP. An aerial map was displayed on a large movie screen where I pointed out Doraville's old established residential neighborhoods within 600 ft of the proposed establishment. The applicant had disguised Hightower Elem School with a "City of Doraville" label and I quickly pointed out how convenient that was which added to the case of how close the school is to the proposed business. I stressed the point that Doraville is in Dekalb County, not Gwinnett, and that our residents needed to be considered in their decision.

Using the crime stats from Chief Atkinson and Capt. Brinkley, I proceeded to described over 400 incidents over the last two years just in the quadrant of Tilly Mill Rd & Peachtree Ind Blvd. and to illustrate the even further impact this establishment will cause to Doraville and Dunwoody.

The Doraville Resolution was presented to each Planning Commissioner and in closing I presented 201 petitions requesting Dekalb County to deny this SLUP application. I advised the commission that Dunwoody Commissioner, Mr. John Heneghan and the Dunwoody Alliance were at a special meeting, could not attend, but were also opposed to this use. The Commission confirmed receipt of Dunwoody's Resolution of opposition.

In closing, the items listed supported denial based on the Steinberg Act.

My Congratulations to all who participated in collecting the signatures for the petitions, those who stepped forward to sign the petition, and those who wrestled the cold to wait four hours to be heard.

The Dekalb Planning Commission unanimously denied the application! The final meeting will be at the 10am meeting on January 26th at the Manual Maloof Auditorium. Please attend if you can; it was impressive to see so many standing, dressed in red.

Thank you and Respectfully,
Pam Fleming, Doraville City Council District 1
psfleming1@aol.com

John Heneghan said...

http://dunwoody-neighbor.com/detail/155318.html

Two cities’ leaders oppose nightclub plan

By Tom Spigolon
tspigolon@neighbornewspapers.com

Political leaders in Doraville and Dunwoody are opposing plans for a nightclub which would operate in an area sandwiched between the two towns.

El Reventon Restaurant plans to operate in a 10,000-square-foot space at the end of the Friday’s Plaza shopping center on Tilly Mill Road near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

The center is located in an unincorporated area between Dunwoody and Doraville. Dunwoody City Council Post 6 member John Heneghan said he felt such a late-night business might discourage badly needed neighborhood businesses, such as supermarkets, from opening in the mostly vacant center.

“I don’t think it is the right kind of business for that center,” he said.

Oasis Goodtimes Emporium, a nightclub featuring adult-only entertainment, operates next door to the El Reventon space, he added.

Doraville City Council also recently approved a resolution opposing its opening at the Friday’s Plaza location.

The District 1 DeKalb Community Council recently voted to give a negative recommendation to the special land use permit filed for the restaurant after members of Doraville and Dunwoody city councils appeared at the Dec. 22 meeting to oppose the plan. The council’s action is non-binding on other boards.

DeKalb Planning Commission also was scheduled to hear the plan this week before the county commission on Jan. 26 considers the permit — which businesses serving alcoholic beverages within 1,500 feet of land zoned residential must get if they want to operate past 12:30 p.m.

El Reventon would operate as a “full-service family restaurant” open to the general public until 10 p.m. After 10, it would convert to a late-night establishment that would only allow customers ages 21 and up and serve menu items plus alcoholic beverages until 4 a.m.

El Reventon officials stated in proposed conditions for the permit they “shall” hire at least two off-duty police officers to provide security from 10 p.m. until at least 30 minutes after closing.

Michele Battle, who represents club owners El Reventon LLC, said her clients already operate the Norcross nightclub Escape which always has operated within codes and has no history of alcoholic beverage violations or criminal activity.

“It’s a place where people can come out and have good food and entertain themselves. It’s primarily an adult crowd in terms of the clientele. People go there on dates. It’s not typically the younger crowd.”

Three recent applications — two for businesses designed for Hispanic customers and one primarily serving African-Americans — have been opposed by community members in DeKalb, she said.

“There is really no reasonable process in place for allowing any business to come into a community and be within 1,500 feet and obtain a late-night permit,” she said. “What we’ve set here is a dynamic where there’s not one community I can think of that is going to say a nightclub that is pouring after 12:30 is something they want in their neighborhood. What community is going to say that?”