Dunwoody Village by Georgia Tech
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dunwoody passed a no-idling policy for city vehicles. Are you aware of the issue? UPS clearly is.
Back in October, Dunwoody put a no idling policy into place for city vehicles and today I read on "Upside", the UPS blog about a DeKalb County school parent who is bringing the No-Idling issue curbside to her school. Are you aware of the issue? Check out the article.
Kudos to the UPS Foundation for funding the Clean Air Campaign’s No-Idling initiative nationwide.
SEC Championship Pep Rally / Tailgate Party for Univ of Alabama at Guthries of Dunwoody on Friday Night
Locally Owned and Operated
Guthrie's of Dunwoody
4474 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd
(Georgetown Shop Ctr - just outside 285)
770-817-0182
Friday December 4th
5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
4474 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd
(Georgetown Shop Ctr - just outside 285)
770-817-0182
Friday December 4th
5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Spreading the word on the scheduled Georgetown land use meeting - Tuesday January 5th
I received the following message from Ms. Susan Harper, a resident of the Georgetown area informing her neighbors of the importance of the upcoming Georgetown planning meeting on Jan 5th. I thought Susan's concise and clearly written message which gets the point across that the residents of the area need to be involved; needed to be shared as wide as possible. Please mark your calenders today.
Dear neighbors,
There will be an important meeting about future land-use decisions in the Georgetown area.
On Tuesday, January 5, at 7pm, a meeting will be held at the Atrium in Georgetown Park--4355 Georgetown Square. At that meeting, Dunwoody residents will be given time to voice their opinions and suggestions as to the future of the Dunwoody/Shallowford/North Peachtree corridor.
If you are concerned about future zoning decisions in this area, you should make every effort to be present at this meeting. A comprehensive land-use plan is being developed that will dictate what type of development--residential? commercial? institutional? industrial?--can be built throughout the city. The Georgetown area has been identified by city officials as an area ripe for redevelopment. What type of redevelopment, however, has not been completely defined.
To be clear about the purpose of this meeting...we can't go in and request specific businesses to occupy specific spaces. For example, suggesting a Whole Foods to replace a Kroger is not within the scope of a land-use plan. However, suggesting that zoning be amended to allow a 10-story office building to replace the Williamsburg office buildings surrounding the Atrium, would be a possibility. (No, that would MOST CERTAINLY not be a suggestion of mine!)
What type of development would you like to see over the next 20 years in this corridor--more live/work/play space? Are you comfortable with the idea of much higher density living spaces along the I-285 access roads? Would you prefer that heights of buildings be capped at 3 stories? 5 stories? 10 stories? Or more R-100 (single family housing) residential designations? Do we need more greenspace designations in these areas? How about transportation--more pedestrian friendly? More bike lanes in this area? Or should there be more direct access to the Perimeter Mall area? These are the questions that we as residents need to consider and respond to at this meeting.
***As far as the "Revive I-285" issues are concerned...I believe that future zoning plans can be made with or without definite decisions on those I-285 plans. In any case, I would not plan on DOT representatives being present at this meeting to answer questions. The focus of this particular meeting is on future zoning designations for the city of Dunwoody rather than on interstate improvements for the top-end as a whole.
Please join me to listen and offer suggestions to our city officials!
Tuesday, January 5th at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Atrium at Georgetown Park, 4355 Georgetown Square
Best regards,
Susan Harper
ps...please pass this along to other neighbors both in and out of the Georgetown/Chateau Woods/North Springs/Heathwood/Village Springs areas...Thanks!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Misc Dunwoody items in no particular order.
The Dunwoody Sustainability Commission is working towards this endeavor which is highlighted in a recent AJC article.
Federal Flood Insurance is now Available in Dunwoody as per this press release.
Childhood Cancer research has been a cause that is dear to me and I am starting to think about this years St. Baldricks fund raising drive but before this happens, I wanted to tell you about a Dunwoody Charity that I came across by the name Just Heart Foundation which helps families with children going though medical crisis. If you know of a family that needs help or you are in a position to help this foundation financially, please do get in touch with them.
I have played with Google Maps in the past but really liked what it can do with election results. I'll have to try this in 2011 for the city wide Dunwoody election.
Kingsley Elementary held a Safe Routes to Schools meeting this morning inviting representatives from all of the Dunwoody schools as well as the City Public Works Department to talk to Ms. Abby Mattera, the Georgia SRTS Outreach Coordinator. I heard the meeting went very well with the city's new Public Works Director, Mr. Michael Smith answering many questions. For those interested there is a webinar entitled Safe Routes to School: Schools and Local Government Working Together which will be highlighting the City of Decatur on Mon Dec 7th at 2pm that looks interesting. I was also told that because of today's meeting, a full day training course is already being scheduled at Kingsley on Feb 4th aimed at educating public officials, school administrators, engineers and interested citizens.
DeKalb County officials will update the public about the county greenspace program at a forum next week. The county has used bond money to buy and improve land for parks and recreation, acquiring more than 3,000 acres since 2001, according to the office of county CEO Burrell Ellis. Officials will discuss the program at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Dr. in Decatur. For more information, call the county Parks Bond and Greenspace Office at 404-371-2082.
Mr. Bob Fiscella, writer of the Springfield in Dunwoody Blog praised and thanked the City Council on our first year but raises a number of concerns and mentions several things he would have done differently. He and I disagree on the parks and police funding but maybe his opinions will spark some conversations on the topics raised.
Thursday night at 5:30 there is a special called meeting of the City Council to listen to a presentation by the Georgia Tech College of Architecture on their Redevelopment Project of the Dunwoody Village area and related discussion. All are invited.
Following the Georgia Tech presentation is the Zoning Board of Appeals which takes place at 7:00 pm and their meetings are always interesting.
Gwinnett County just raised their property taxes by 21 percent. Ouch.
Federal Flood Insurance is now Available in Dunwoody as per this press release.
Childhood Cancer research has been a cause that is dear to me and I am starting to think about this years St. Baldricks fund raising drive but before this happens, I wanted to tell you about a Dunwoody Charity that I came across by the name Just Heart Foundation which helps families with children going though medical crisis. If you know of a family that needs help or you are in a position to help this foundation financially, please do get in touch with them.
I have played with Google Maps in the past but really liked what it can do with election results. I'll have to try this in 2011 for the city wide Dunwoody election.
Kingsley Elementary held a Safe Routes to Schools meeting this morning inviting representatives from all of the Dunwoody schools as well as the City Public Works Department to talk to Ms. Abby Mattera, the Georgia SRTS Outreach Coordinator. I heard the meeting went very well with the city's new Public Works Director, Mr. Michael Smith answering many questions. For those interested there is a webinar entitled Safe Routes to School: Schools and Local Government Working Together which will be highlighting the City of Decatur on Mon Dec 7th at 2pm that looks interesting. I was also told that because of today's meeting, a full day training course is already being scheduled at Kingsley on Feb 4th aimed at educating public officials, school administrators, engineers and interested citizens.
DeKalb County officials will update the public about the county greenspace program at a forum next week. The county has used bond money to buy and improve land for parks and recreation, acquiring more than 3,000 acres since 2001, according to the office of county CEO Burrell Ellis. Officials will discuss the program at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Dr. in Decatur. For more information, call the county Parks Bond and Greenspace Office at 404-371-2082.
Mr. Bob Fiscella, writer of the Springfield in Dunwoody Blog praised and thanked the City Council on our first year but raises a number of concerns and mentions several things he would have done differently. He and I disagree on the parks and police funding but maybe his opinions will spark some conversations on the topics raised.
Thursday night at 5:30 there is a special called meeting of the City Council to listen to a presentation by the Georgia Tech College of Architecture on their Redevelopment Project of the Dunwoody Village area and related discussion. All are invited.
Following the Georgia Tech presentation is the Zoning Board of Appeals which takes place at 7:00 pm and their meetings are always interesting.
Gwinnett County just raised their property taxes by 21 percent. Ouch.
Today the City of Dunwoody celebrates its first year.
And they said it couldn't be done?
On July 15th, 2008 a referendum took place asking if the citizens wanted to create the City of Dunwoody. 10,506 registered voters cast 8,534 ballots (81%) voting to create the city but 1,972 people voted against the creation of the city. As soon as the Council was elected in September we started to lay the groundwork for the city. On December 1, 2008 the city was officially created and as the video shows after a few minutes of reflection we were back at work.
I hope the city government has served all of the residents of Dunwoody well in the last year but I especially hope that myself, the other members of City Council and wonderful members of the City staff has convinced those who voted NO that a government closer to the people is more responsive to the needs of the citizens.
As a council we had a number of tough decisions early on but if I had to pick my proudest personal accomplishment in the last year, it would have to be my commitment to transparency and open government. Early on I posted every electronic document that I had to this blog and my personal servers; then I stressed that full agenda packets be placed by the City to the web. I have recorded and posted to the web almost every word of every official meeting that I attended so that you can listen at your leisure. Recently I have started posting live web broadcasts of City Council meetings so that you can participate in the process from the comfort of your own home. I anticipate that in the coming year that the City of Dunwoody will take over and improve on these public information items and only when fully implemented will I be able to fully step back to reflect on those accomplishments. Until that happens I will continue to do my best to keep you well informed by engaging all forms of communication and media.
Thank you for allowing me to have the privilege to serve all 40,000 residents of the City of Dunwoody as it has truely been my honor.
John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
