Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Some tidbits on the Austin Elementary / Dunwoody Park Swap

Current Austin Elementary to someday become a 9 acre park?

  • City buys current Austin school immediately on closing and leases it back to DeKalb for three years.
  • Austin Elementary community stays intact during construction with little or no interruption.
  • City will take on demo costs of old Austin after new school opens (need to reserve money for this.)
  • City of Dunwoody gains 9 acre park or public space in underserved corner of City.
  • There are no plans for this property at this time - what does the community want here?

City purchases park land from PCMS yet students get to enjoy improvements during day.
New baseball fields are constructed and football fields will be lit.

  • City purchases close to 8 acres of PCMS (near the corner of North Peachtree & Barclay) thereby extending Brook Run Park across Barclay.
  • Immediately upon closing, City of Dunwoody will release a Construction RFP to build two baseball fields on those 8 acres.   The new fields should be operational prior to DeKalb starting demo on Dunwoody Senior Baseball fields. 
  • The baseball facilities built by Dunwoody will be very comparable to Dunwoody Senior dimensions and the facilities will include concession stand, irrigation, lighting, batting cages, netting and I believe a restroom is also included in the city plans.
  • The City of Dunwoody and DeKalb have entered into a joint use agreement for both the baseball and football fields.  Dunwoody will resurface the football field and maintain the property in exchange for use outside school hours
  • The City will add lights to football field as part of the Construction RFP to maximize playing time on that space.
  • Dunwoody has been assured that there is room for new school building construction if needed.
  • Parking will be shared on the top near the school with ADA ramps constructed coming down the hill.  New parking will be constructed behind field 2 and accessible off Barclay with more parking across Barclay in Brook Run if needed.

New school for Austin Elementary with little disruption for construction.

  • New Austin Elementary School will be constructed on space currently used by Dunwoody Senior Baseball.
  • The design of the school is the current "DeKalb Standard design" built is several other locations whereby the capacity of the school will be 900 students.
  • The South entrance (currently DSB) will be for buses only and will facilitate easy drop off, that same bus lane will continue to the back where school field trip buses can drop children at the Dunwoody Nature Center and then have an easy turn around.
  • The North entrance (currently DNC) will be the main entrance to the school and it will be shared by Dunwoody Nature Center as they have different peak times.  Vehicle stacking space of this main driveway should facilitate taking cars off Roberts for drop off.
  • The parking at the Nature Center is improved and there will now be parking for special events at that facility.
  • Transportation improvements may be needed on Roberts due to change (traffic light configuration changes?)
  • Buffering between new Austin and street to South will be assured (as was done in the construction of DES).
There will be better drawings coming soon and I hope that if you have questions that you will please raise them.  I have seen a rendering or two of the school over the last few months but do not have electronic copies but I am sure they will be shared soon.

Thanks,

John

2 comments:

skigator93 said...

Outstanding work and looks like a win win for all.

Shawn The MeterMan said...

Whom. To who it may concern. This is Shawn. I found out about this elementary school through a friend of mine. From what I can gather online. Is they are building a new Austin Elementary School that is supposed to open up in December of 2019. Here's what I want to do. I am 41 years of age, and have autism. I would love to purchase the old Austin Elementary School from the park, or who ever owns it if the price is reasonable. I want to reuse the current building as it stands, no demolishing of what so ever as I love the current style of the building. It looks like it dates back to the early 1970's which I like stuff from the 70's. I would venture to say this building is built rock solid as most of the older ones were. Compared to today's buildings they throw them up. I also see this is one level which is what I want especially for people in wheelchairs. Here's what I would want to do to this elementary school. I want to re purpose it into a group home for autistic disabled adults. I would re purpose all the classrooms into individual client rooms. Each room would have a small kitchenette, and possibly a small bathroom that consists of a toilet, sink, and shower. I don't live in the Georgia area, but I am looking at possibilities of pursuing my dream of doing this, and willing to relocate. I miss my school days, and to purchase, and own a building like this, and use it to help the community would be a dream come true. Also I can look into getting government grants to get things started such as the remodeling of the classrooms. The gym would stay, the caffetteria as well. The Gym can be a place for the clients to hang out, and socialize, play basketball, watch a movie on a big screen ect. Caffetteria would be used to serve the breakfast lunch, and dinner to clients as well. I assume this school has a clinic as most schools have a nurse on staff so the clinic would be useful to clients in need also can be use as a medication dispensery for some clients as well. I was thinking the library can serve as a training, and hiring room for people looking to work for me. Also the music room or art room can be used as a laundry room fitted with washers, and dryers so clients clothes can be washed, and any clients that are capable of doing their own laundry are also welcome to do so. Also would include WiFi access through out the whole building for the clients, and my staff. Me. I can do lots as well. I am great with electrical, and HVAC so I would be doing all the repairs, and maintenance on all the HVAC, Lighting, Ect, as well as doing grounds maintenance such as cutting the grass, salting the sidewalks, and parking lot, and shoveling the snow off the parking lot, and walks in the winter time. Also I assume there is a central intercom system, which would be great for visitor's so if someone comes to visit a particular client, all one in the office would have to do is page that clients room telling them they have a visitor up front, and the client can either accept or decline over the PA system rather he or she wants to see the visitor. The building would be a safe haven for the clients. Anyway. I hope someone of high authority sees this post, and can get in touch with me, as I am very interested in possibly purchasing this building. I'd love to see the inside after the school closes. Would give me better inside to what I would need to do to make this work. Thanks. Shawn.