Dunwoody City Council Agenda for Monday August 25, 2025 (Group Homes, Brook Run Maintenance Facility, Municipal Services, Google Fiber, Shallowford Trail)

DUNWOODY CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Monday August 25, 2025
6:00 PM
DUNWOODY CITY HALL - DUNWOODY HALL
4800 ASHFORD DUNWOODY ROAD
DUNWOODY, GA 30338

Agenda 6 pm  - City Site Agenda

City Council meetings are live-streamed on the City of Dunwoody’s Facebook page.

They are also available for viewing (no two way communication) on Zoom,
https://dunwoodyga-gov.zoom.us/j/85998548170 or  phone +14702509358,,85998548170#

You can access the video after the meeting on the City of Dunwoody’s YouTube page.

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

Administration of Oath of Office to Officer Skylar Lewis and Officer Aaron Barone

PUBLIC COMMENTS - Public Comment allows the City Council the opportunity to listen to the public (3 minutes per speaker / 30 minutes total).

Economic Development Update - 2nd Quarter (Michael Starling)

Public Hearing - The City of Dunwoody, property owner at 4770 N Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, GA, 30338, requests a variance from Chapter 16, Section 78 to allow replacement of a City of Dunwoody maintenance facility and associated improvements in the 75-foot stream buffer.

SECOND READ: Review and consideration a text amendment to the Code of the City of Dunwoody for Chapter 27, including Sec. 27-112, Sec. 27-135.1, Sec. 27-146.1, and other sections, the general purpose of which is to create zoning regulations and procedures for group living uses, including, but not limited to assisted living, independent living, community residences, recovery communities, and for other purposes. 

Rebidding of Major Municipal Services (J. Jay Vinicki) 

2025 Holiday Lights Display at Brook Run Park (Rachel Waldron) 

 Funding Authorization for Stormwater Repairs - 2566 Briers North Drive

Dunwoody Cultural Arts Center HVAC Integrated Controls Addition

 Resolution to Surplus Six Vehicles

Approval of a Contract Amendment with Vandermeer Management to Provide Construction Management Services for the Brook Run Maintenance Facility

Approval of a Franchise Agreement with Google Fiber

Approval of a Final Design Contract with AECOM for North Shallowford Path Final Design

Questions - Is Dunwoody working towards Google Fiber, what are you doing about gravel in streets, unkept sidewalks, See Click Fix, Crosswalks, steel plates?

Another letter from my inbox...

John,

Hope you are doing well. I am sending you this email with a few topics that I would love for the city to look into.

• Google Fiber is potentially coming to Atlanta and surrounding cities. I was surprised to see that Dunwoody was not currently one of those cities. However Sandy Spring and Brookhaven are included in their plans. This is based on the fiber.google.com website. Is the Dunwoody city council working with Google to get Dunwoody included in the Google Fiber expansion plans?
  
  Answer - Barney, Yes we pushed hard for Google Fiber, we applied in 2010 with neighboring cities whereby they were picked and we were not.  We too were surprised but we have the capability of moving very fast if they want to expand but until then we will be watching the process and learning what we can. 
  
  
• Over the past few years I have pleasantly seen the city expanding bike lanes and side walks. This also comes with the responsibility to ensure those bike lanes and side walks are maintained and clear of debris. Following this winter, gravel and debris are covering many of the bike lanes forcing riders to travel outside those lanes and/or at time forcing them to swerve at the last minute.
  
  Answer - Barney, I do not have details but the Public Works Director stated on Monday that the Streets of Dunwoody will be swept in the coming weeks.  Look for a vehicle like above on your streets soon.
   
• I have also observed side walks sections on North Peachtree and Tilly Mill road being over grown with grass or other plants/debris and trees not being trimmed forcing pedestrian to potentially step off the side walk.
  
  Answer - Dunwoody acts on a customer driven complaint system for code enforcement and then once in a while we will do sweeps looking for a specific issue like making sure the sidewalks are clear.  I will reach out to code enforcement (not taking for granted that they are daily readers of my blog - but they are) asking if a sidewalk sweep could be done on the major jogging routes in the city.   I also highly recommend the See Click Fix app for your smart phone where city complaint like above can be logged in seconds with a photo and gis location.  Please try it.
  
• As you know I am still hopping that the city will realize the need to help pedestrian cross our streets safely by adding cross walks in areas where they don't exist today. Tilly Mill between city limit and before Andover, North Peachtree by Brookrun park to name a couple.
  
  Answer - Barney the city does realize that crosswalks are needed and I am looking for lit crosswalks in specific places and in critical locations where there are no traffic lights.   An independent study on crosswalks near schools should be out any day and I will be reaching out to council to fund those improvements as soon as possible.  The City has recommended the crosswalk on Tilly Mill be located near Stonington because of the sight lines and hill but the problem is that the street at that point is in the City of Doraville and we (the two cities) have yet to figure out the funding mechanism as we (Dunwoody) are not allowed to pay for a capital improvement in another city even though 100% of the crossings would be Dunwoody residents.  A crossing at the front of Brook Run also makes sense and I will ask staff to analyze but that entire area will be redesigned in 2015 with the reworking of the Nroth Peachtree, Tilly Mill, Peeler intersection.
  
• Lastly we continue to have utility work on main streets that go unfinished for weeks with metal plates and pot holes. On Tilly Mill past Peeler road two metal plates and a major pot hole (was filled in with gravel yesterday) have now been there for weeks. Past reasons for those have been that the city, to save money, was coordinating  paving of utility work in groups. Utility work was paved on Tilly Mill by Perimeter college last week but not by Peeler road, a mile away.
  
  Answer - Barney I don't have the best answers for you except that the City of Dunwoody only controls the top 8 inches of asphalt on the roads and most things below that depth are controlled by DeKalb Water & Sewer or another utility (Natural Gas comes to mind today).  They do the work they need to do and when told to do so we repave when appropriate.  Sometimes there are scheduling issues or with the big metal plates being in place, the work under ground is on going.   I will see if I can get specific updates on the streets in question.

I guess this is it for now. 

Regards,

Barney  (Please say hi to Wilma, Pebbles and the two BamBam Brothers)

City of Dunwoody, GA collectively states "Google Fiber, I want my high speed access !!"

In early February 2010, I learned of the Google Fiber Initiative and pushed for the City of Dunwoody to apply but based on Google’s requested city size to complete the application, the City of Dunwoody would need to partner with neighboring cities in order to meet the minimum requirements. I brainstormed and saw a joint application with Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee & Doraville being a very viable one and posted my thoughts on my blog of February 11, 2010 entitled Imagine the top end of Atlanta as a technology hub tied together with the fastest internet. Let's ask Google to help make it happen.

From there the City Manager and City Staff took my request seriously and started talking to our neighboring cities. In the end, I believe that Sandy Springs was big enough to submit a single application therefore Dunwoody then partnered with Decatur, Avondale Estates, Chamblee and Doraville as well as Emory University and Georgia Power on the final application submission under the name “Atlanta Urban Area Partnership for Google”.

Besides the application which was submitted along with Resolutions of Support from each of the participating cities, a video was produced and submitted along with the application and it is shown below.

 Video

I know that ultra-high speed internet service will be the future life blood of a community and that businesses and tech savvy individuals would be drawn to that infrastructure. Besides Google Fiber, I have pushed for other expanded internet options like UVerse which is Fiber to the Neighborhood (Node) vs Google’s plan which is to complete the last mile and go Fiber to the Home.

Today Google announced that the Atlanta area is in the running for the next wave of investment and in doing so named eight surrounding municipalities by name but did not specifically include the City of Dunwoody, even though we were in direct partnership with several of the cities that were specifically named. My guess is that Google is ready to start with any viable area in the Atlanta market and I can tell you that the City of Dunwoody is ready, willing and able to complete the next stage of the process in working with the provider to bring the service to our community.

From the moment that Google announced possible expansion cities, my inbox was lit up with information as to why the City of Dunwoody was not named and if I could summarize the collective message of those inquiries it would be "Google Fiber, I want my high speed access !!"

If you are interested in this project, please do me two favors.  First go to this link and click the blue CHECK ADDRESS box or the blue GET UPDATES box to register your address as being interested in the service; second if you are a Facebook user, please go to the “Atlanta Urban Area Partnership for Google” page and like it for future updates.

The City of Dunwoody is reaching out to Google as to specifics and we look forward to working with them in the very near future.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Challenge to find and spread innovative local solutions to national problems.

Video

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is posting a nationwide challenge to city mayors in order to find and reward ideas that improve city life by addressing a major social or economic issue, improving the customer service experience for citizens or businesses, increasing government efficiency, and/or enhancing accountability, transparency, and public engagement.

The City of Dunwoody, GA started from scratch several years ago and our service delivery motto is really to put proven best practices and the latest technological innovations into place in order best serve the citizens and the businesses within our jurisdiction at the lowest possible cost without jeopardizing the overall level of service.

I can think of so many things that we as a city have done right...

• Breaking apart our service contracts to various vendors in order to maximize service and minimize price was a risky way to start a city but it worked well and has now been copied by others.
• We hired and equipped a top notch police force in 90 days.
• We hire the best and brightest employees and hopefully then get out of their way to do the job.  Along with that goes the responsibility of making sure that that the employees are well served, cared for, compensated and appreciated for the quality service they are expected to provide.
• As there were no legacy computer systems in place, we decided to invest in a cutting edge back end computer infrastructure that integrates everything from accounting, community development, public works and GIS; whereby man hours are cut and efficiency improved.
• Having a paperless police and court system where traffic tickets can be uploaded to the servers via a wireless transfer and then be able to be paid online just hours after being issued, 
• Transparency has been pushed from the city's infancy whereby financial reports with the check register are now published monthly, crime and police calls are published daily, and we have a police department that is pushing more information to social networks than most teenagers with an unlimited data plan would ever dream of doing

We are by no means perfect but I believe we have done many things right, and it is through introspective reflection by always looking to see what could be improved is what I now strive for the City of Dunwoody.  It is  by applying to opportunities like this or the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge or even the Google Fiber Contest that we can stretch our minds to find ways to better serve you the citizens. 

I am not sure if the City will actually take the time to complete the application but it will be reviewed by staff for consideration and then we should circle back in October when the winners are announced to see what best practices others have come up with.  It appears by this job announcement that the City of Atlanta has already focused their efforts in data collection and analysis in order to reduce homelessness and improve employment. 

What could the City of Dunwoody offer up that we have done that others should replicate on a national scale?

Washington Post - New York City’s billionaire mayor is using his personal fortune to try to spark innovation in the nation’s cities — inviting 1,300 mayors to compete for millions of dollars in funding for new programs meant to solve urban challenges and enhance city life.

The mayors of U.S. municipalities with at least 30,000 residents will be asked to join the Mayors Challenge, being launched Wednesday by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is offering a grand prize of $5 million and four smaller prizes of $1 million. The foundation is asking the mayors to focus on initiatives that could be replicated elsewhere if successful.

Bloomberg, who has said that he plans to focus full-time on his philanthropy after his third term ends in 2013, argued that mayors are better positioned than community organizations, governors and even presidents to make a difference when it comes to delivering services.
“Governors and presidents redistribute and work at a different level, a policy level. Mayors have to get stuff done,” Bloomberg said. “Organizations tend to talk a lot, and some do some things. Mayors don’t have that option. Mayors, if you don’t deliver something, you are out of office pretty quickly.”

The challenge is part of the philanthropy’s Mayors Project, which has already paid to install teams in Atlanta, Chicago, Louisville, Memphis and New Orleans to work on initiatives in areas including small-business growth and crime reduction. Under the $24 million initiative, the teams report directly to the mayors of those cities.

Applications for the Mayors Challenge will be due Sept. 14, and winners will be announced in May after teams from finalist cities attend an “Ideas Camp” at which they can refine their proposals.

Under the contest rules, cities must propose ideas that improve “city life by addressing a major social or economic issue, improving the customer service experience for citizens or businesses, increasing government efficiency, and/or enhancing accountability, transparency, and public engagement,” according to the foundation.

Dunwoody and other DeKalb Cities partner for Google Fiber Application.

Atlanta Urban Area Partnership for Google from Atlanta Urban Area Partnership for Google Fiber on Vimeo.

Here’s the video produced by Decatur’s Andrea Berry on behalf of Decatur, Chamblee, Avondale, Dunwoody, Doraville, Emory and Georgia Power, making the case for Google Fiber. [h/t The Decatur Minute and Decatur Metro]

It looks like the Atlanta partnership team will have their work cut out for them.  Google broke its silence on the initiative yesterday with an update, which stated that with the RFI deadline now past, over 1,100 communities across the U.S. had expressed interest in becoming the test ground for the company’s high-speed fiber optic network.  Next steps for Google include “site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third-party organizations.”

Below is a map that Google created showing the locations of government responses (small dots) and resident nominations of 1,000 or more (big dots).

Dunwoody City Council scheduled to vote Monday on backyard chickens - Work Session scheduled for 6 p.m.

Monday, March 22nd
Dunwoody City Hall
41 Perimeter Center East

Dunwoody, GA 30346

The City Council proposed a new schedule whereby this Monday's Voting Meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. also has a work session starting at 6 p.m. in order for the Council to ask informal questions, present new items and is in place to attempt to speed up the voting meeting.  Since I will be rushing to get to this meeting located in the side room of the main City Council Chambers; I'm not sure I will be able to set up my computer in time but I will try.  As always the work session is open to the public and I encourage your attendance since that is were some heavy discussions regarding the evenings topics may occur.  The main voting meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and even if the work session is required to be cut short; the main meeting will start at 7 p.m. 

6:00 p.m. - Work Session (Side Room)

Work Session Agenda - Possible Video?

Review of March 22, 2010 City Council Meeting agenda.
Crime mapping demonstration.

7:00 p.m. Voting Session (Main Chamber)

Voting Session Agenda - Watch live streaming video


CALL TO ORDER
By Tommy Fry, Austin Elementary student and winner of the Austin Elementary “Mayor for a Day” auction package.

Employee recognition.
a. Michael Lockett - “Employee of Distinction” Proclamation
b. Officer Jesus Maldonado - “Officer of the Year”
c. Katharine “KC” Kramer – Dunwoody Police Department “Employee of the Year”
d. Officer Fidel Espinoza - “Marksman of the Year” and “Christmas for Kids” Program
Resolution opposing proposed changes to Class B airspace at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

City of Dunwoody and Perimeter Community Improvement District (PCID) Cooperation Agreement.

Green Building Policy.

PUBLIC HEARING and Scheduled Vote on Chapter 27, “Raising Backyard Chickens in Single Family Residence Districts.

SECOND READ: Ordinance to amend Chapter 15, Regulation of taxi cabs.

SECOND READ: Ordinance to amend Chapter 17, Motorized Golf Carts.

Convention and Visitors Bureau of Dunwoody Annual Report.

Ordinance to amend Fiscal Year 2010 Budget to fund Economic Development study.

Resolution “Georgia Cities Week”.

Resolution “The Atlanta Urban Area Partnership for Google”.

Resolution to appoint additional members to the Dunwoody Village Design Review Advisory Committee.

Resolution of joint cities opposing proposed changes to Class B airspace at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

Five-year resurfacing plan.

Imagine the top end of Atlanta as a technology hub tied together with the fastest internet. Let's ask Google to help make it happen.

Google is test-marketing blazingly-fast ultra-high-speed Internet service in a few markets. Lucky residents will be able to purchase Internet service at speeds up to 1 Gb. This is orders of magnitude faster than current Internet offerings.

What if the Cities of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee & Doraville partnered with Google on providing a fiber-optic network to every home and then every business in the area? This type of infrastructure would be a fantastic boon to the residents as well as the many corporations in the area. It is my belief that a multi-city partnership like this would not only be feasible but it would be highly successful on many levels.

Together the cities have population of about 150,000 but the day time office populations jump to approximately 300,000 people.

The area is served by a mix of single & multi-family residential as well as established commercial centers that need and would thrive on the faster internet service provided. The area has the corporate headquarters of InterContinental Hotels, United Parcel Service, Mirant, Cox, AFC Enterprises and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It has a thriving business community which is supported by local governments who know how to work together for a common goal. The "Pill Hill" area of Children's, St. Joes & Northside Hospitals along with the 100's of small doctor's offices in the area would be a fertile testing ground for high speed data transmissions of medical images and records. Federal data centers (both the IRS & CDC) could harness the power of Fiber.  New technical communities and businesses could be built replacing the long shuttered factory of long ago.

Become a fan on Facebook by the link below and talk to your city leaders about joining together on this collaborative project for the good of our community.  Together our proposal would be stronger then any one of us apart.

Topend Perimeter Partnership of Atlanta for Fiber

As a member of the Dunwoody City Council, I will be requesting that the City immediately start reviewing the application as well as start discussions with our neighboring cities.

John Heneghan
Dunwoody City Council
John.Heneghan@DunwoodyGa.gov