June 8th meeting recap & audio of the Dunwoody City Council

Ashford Dunwoody & Mt. Vernon

Agenda & Meeting Audio (1h 32 min)
Highlights below as per my perspective and memory.

Denny Shortal announced his campaign for re-election to a four year term on the Dunwoody City Council. Also up for re-election this year if they choose to run again is Dr. Adrian Bonser & Mr. Tom Taylor with the "At Large" members of Wittenstein, Ross and Heneghan serving another two years until their terms are up.

Cleanup of Chapter 27 on Zoning policies and the Community Council passed but look for another revision to this same chapter soon thereby allowing more public notice and more participation in the Community Council process.

Dunwoody United Methodist Church was removed from the Dunwoody Village Overlay.

Perimeter CID gave a nice update on the $2.5 million dollar, Ashford Dunwoody & Mt. Vernon Rd. intersection which is scheduled to be completed in October of 2009. I'm not happy with the design of the non-stop, right hand turn lane onto Mt. Vernon and for pedestrian safety the city may need to install a signalized crosswalk at this location. We also heard a comment that east bound bike traffic would be dangerous due to merging traffic from Ashford Dunwoody. Click here for the full set of drawings. I also asked about the construction traffic on Perimeter Center West which I have heard was adversely affecting restaurant receipts and Mr. Tony Peters admitted that the lane closure policies have been adjusted to improve traffic flow and that night time construction will have to be explored on the next project of this scope.

We had our first of three public hearings on the 2009 Millage Rate - there were a couple of public commenter's looking for us to roll back the taxes vs. keeping them steady. In a year where our financial numbers are not 100% proven (there is no definitive history on City revenues nor expenses), I believe that a roll back of any amount would most likely be a gesture without any real substance, but I can say that this subject will be reviewed seriously by the council. In other news, DeKalb County has announced a 3.73% tax increase from last year.

We set the street light fee which is a line item on your real estate tax bill to be the same as last year (most of the city council promised no new taxes) even though we know that the price charged to the city by Georgia Power for street lights will be going up by some unknown amount in the coming months. Some could say that this is a tax decrease but as I stated previously our financial numbers are not 100% proven (there is no definitive history on revenues, nor expenses), though we are working hard on both ends to make the City work and believe that we are financially sound.

We moved the location of all City Council Meetings to our brand new, very nice City Hall Council Chambers at 41 Perimeter Center East, 30338.

A last minute addition to the agenda was a resolution asking the U.S. Postal System to keep the Dunwoody Village Post Office open. Resident Brian Sims made a nice suggestion that to maintain the Dunwoody Village Post Office we need to expand the 30338 zip code to encompass the Dunwoody portion of the 30360 zip code which is currently served by the Doraville post office on the other side of Buford Highway. We also need to update to the current Dunwoody Zip Codes in order to change the City Designation to Dunwoody for all addresses currently inside the city limits of Dunwoody. I have discussed this in the past and the city is now drafting the documentation needed to make the zip code change request. If you are affected by your zip code being designated as Doraville or Atlanta instead of Dunwoody, now and/or the public meeting of June 22nd might be a good time to voice your opinion.

Finally as I was announcing the upcoming meetings for the week, the City Manager announced that the Special Land Use Permit for the Curry Center, a transitional housing center for alcoholics, has withdrawn their request, therefore it will not be heard at this evenings Planning Commission meeting.