Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Overview of the Dunwoody Georgetown Master Planning meeting.



I attended the Georgetown Master Plan meeting which had about 120 Dunwoody residents in attendance and really enjoyed the well laid out presentation. The meeting quickly turned interactive whereby residents were looking and grading about 80 different photos of what could be built in the next 20 years. Residents placed red and green stickers on a big map showing areas they wanted changed and areas that should stay as is. A future website is coming where I believe everyone can then do the same; overall it was a good first step.

Any thoughts from those in attendance? Thanks.

6 comments:

Paula Caldarella said...

John, thank you for posting the presentation. I was unable to make the meeting due to a school function.

I am surprised that the Shallowford ES/Chamblee MS property has not been part of the discussion. Do we have a clear view as to the school system's intent for that property? The builidng itself is deteriorating by the day and is an eyesore - broken shades hanging from the window, stacked up chairs that can be seen from the road, the outside walls crumbling, etc. It has to affect property values in that area.

Just some random thoughts...I would like to see if DCSS could at least tear down the building (I understand that the building is in such terrible shape that it could not be used again as a school) and turn it into green space. Maybe keep the gym and field and rent those out. I would bet the Dunwoody community would agree to keep the property "up" for DCSS - maybe a Community garden, that type of thing if and/or when school system needs that property. As I said, just some random thoughts.

A retention pond is not the only eyesore in the Dunwoody community.

Paula Caldarella said...

Does anyone know if there has been any interest in the Emory Dunwoody Medical Center properties?

Bob Lundsten said...

John,
I have been involved in dozens of these types of meeting over the last ten years and last night was something special.
As we found out , land use,zonings and redevelopment can be stressful discussions for all parties involved, with each side knowing they are right and each side not willing to budge.
Last night the options and conditions were laid out in a clear concise manner, presentation was excellent and the level of expertise was top notch.
I urge everyone in the City to attend these critical meetings for Georgetown and Dunwoody Village.
Get involved in the process, don't complain from the sidelines.
To paraphrase Councilman Shortal, let's work together to build the future of Dunwoody

Anonymous said...

That school property is included inside the Georgetown Master Plan area. I am not expecting the Master Plan to get as granular as addressing any single building inside the Master Plan area. I don't think that micro-level of detail is the purpose of a Master Plan.

Until a professional building engineer for DCSS declares the Shallowford ES building as unusable in any form, the door to a rehab of the property in the future is open. Anything else is merely a guess or hearsay, but not factual.

Personally, I think we stand a better chance of getting DCSS to fund a rehab of the building (versus building a new school building altogether)when another new school in Dunwoody is agreed upon by DCSS. Tearing down this building now may make the area look prettier for us to pass by, but it might jeopardize reusing the site as a school in the near term, if a totally new campus has to be built from the ground up.

Lastly, I would not favor spending our City of Dunwoody tax dollars to keep up this DCSS property just because we want the site to look prettier for us.

Paula Caldarella said...

Thank you for your response, condescending as it was....

If you will read by post closely, I was not advocating using city funds to upkeep the property, but a volunteer effort by our community.

John Heneghan said...

New Planning Site for both Georgetown and Dunwoody Village.

http://www.hlplanning.com/clients/dunwoody/

Create your own map of what you think needs to be done.

Community Mapper