Take a look at the video above, the residents don’t want the development and the developer thinks that it is the best use of the land. Who wins this argument & why?
On the surface I tend to side with the residents because the street looks to be a quiet residential street but later you learn that it is North Druid Hills and it sits directly across the street from another apartment complex. The big question for me comes down to what does the Comprehensive Land Use Plan say? How old is it and what has changed since the plan was developed? What did the community decide was best for that property and why should it not be followed now?
After the new Dunwoody City Council is seated one of the items to be worked on quickly is our overall comprehensive plan which will do an assessment of the communities many needs to see where we are and then we will plan on where we want to be 10 years from now. What was the land use plan for that specific street in the video? Maybe three years ago the ten year comprehensive plan said that a mixed use development project might be best suited at that location? If that was the case does the project get approved? Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know? The DeKalb County Commission has the responsibility to make that specific decision and they will do so after reviewing all the facts.
My point is that we the Citizens of Dunwoody will be going through this comprehensive planning project very shortly and we as a community will need to discuss block by block what should happen where. There will be “lively” discussions where people may disagree with one another but that being said everyone needs to be well informed and then involved because it will be this document that the City Council will be using as a guidebook for future land use decisions.
In the next couple of years the long term policy of the City will be put into place and we cannot afford to trust six well meaning neighbors (including, possibly me) to sit in a room without your input to make that policy.
OK, go ahead and call me naive, but I happen to still believe in democracy - even at the local government level. If you want to have a positive impact on the new city, pick the best qualified and smartest people on the ballot that you believe will listen to reasonable arguments in order to make informed decisions. Next you need to show up at meetings and make your views known because politicians want to lead the community, but they need your input in order to do so.
Checkout the candidates who have submitted me their campaign announcement for posting to this site; and I will post other announcements as they are provided to me. In just five short weeks from today, you will be voting for four of the six City Council members. You will vote for your local district candidate who is elected by only the people of your district and everyone will vote for all three districts, at large (citywide) positions. Are you ready to do so?
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Meeting flyer for Aug 3rd
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