Gordon Jackson, President, called the meeting to order.
Gordon, Jackson, President, called the meeting to order and welcomed Board member and visitors. There were no announcements. The July minutes will go out in time to be approved for the next meeting on September 13, 2009.
Zoning and Development
- New Dunwoody Bank – Bill Grant told us that the new bank, Piedmont Bank, will be located in the Village at the old freestanding Wolf Camera site. He showed drawings of the building and just needs approval from Regency for a couple of items. They hope to be open by the end of this year. The building is no closer to the street than the previous building but there will be a front porch that is closer.
Community Affairs
- Adopt a Spot – Bill Robinson told us that the City passed an ordinance to have Adopt a Spot as a City sponsored project with a partnership with DHA. The ordinance is on the City web site. Steve Fuller will be providing the signs modeled after the signs on the Bill Grant islands. DHA formed a committee of Bill Robinson, Stacy Harris and Randy Collins, with Bill Grant and Gordon Jackson as advisors. These committee members will become an active partner with the City and are asking Richard Meehan, Director of Public Works, to join the committee. They will identify sites and work on getting sponsors. Randy Collins got Greenmark Landscaping to sponsor the island at the intersection of Peeler Rd at Winter Chapel Rd. The committee is working on a publicity campaign including a speaker’s bureau and creating a brochure. Bill is asking DHA to vote on contributing funds toward the publication of the brochure. Bill asked the Board to identify spots that need to be adopted and e-mail the DHA Administration office. The adopting sponsor will sign up for two year.
- Dunwoody Bike Information – Doug Thompson informed us that Joe Seconder is in the hospital and asked that this be put on the agenda of a future meeting. Gordon has been in touch with Joe about working on making Dunwoody bike friendly.
- Dunwoody Arts Festival – Frances Shube is the organizer of the festival. She lives in Dunwoody and currently runs the Norcross Arts Festival. This festival will be held on Mother’s Day weekend in 2010 and will be located in the Village. She feels this location will help the businesses in the area. They may possibly partner with the Chamber of Commerce. There will be approximately 160 artists from all over the country. They will have sponsors. The artists will be a cross between juried art and invitation only artists. Frances suggested going to the Norcross Art Festival website, www.norcrossartfest.com , to get an idea of the type of artist representation for our Art Festival. She has a partner and their ultimate goal is for it to become a non profit endeavor. Both the Police and Fire Departments have met with her and Chamblee Dunwoody Rd. will be closed from Mt. Vernon until just before Dunwoody Village Parkway which allows for people to get to shopping or non festival traffic. There will also be a shuttle at yet to be determined location. It is a two day festival.
- Dunwoody Library – Ron Leonard from the DeKalb County Library System told us that the Dunwoody Library reopened on July 6th and is more user friendly. The Friends of the Library paid $185,000.00 towards the remodel and we are very lucky to have a 400 strong Friends organization. The grand reopening is on August 15th from 10 am – 3 pm. There was a 2005 library bond referendum and system wide there are two new libraries which benefits us because we have more resources for what we want. The County approved 65 new positions. They are working on getting wireless technology. Their materials budget went from 2 million to ½ million so they are trying to raise money through a challenge grant and need $15,000.00 more by Dec. 31st.
- Code Enforcement – Gerri Penn told the group that Code Enforcement has their own court date every Wednesday and explained the citation system. She commended the City and Code Enforcement Department
- Vernon North Neighborhood – Terry Nall is representing 24 homeowners in his neighborhood. Their lawyer is Linda Dunleavy. They are appealing Zoning Board of Appeals approval of the Goddard School variance on the basis that City Staff committed three legal errors including the application was filed without a baseline from the correct code chapter, ZBA made their decision without requiring the 50 foot buffer as in Chapter 27, and the ZBA advocated a private easement which has yet to be adjudicated. The cost of the appeal to DeKalb Superior Court is $15,000.00. They have raised most of the $4,500.00 retainer and are asking DHA to help by contributing 5,000.00-$10,000.00. If legal errors are allowed to stand, it sets the standard for the future. Chapter 27 of O&I Zoning requires a 50 foot buffer once there is a land disturbance which wasn’t required at the time the parking lot was paved.
Messages and Updates from President
- LUD – Gordon said the next Light up Dunwoody is Nov. 22nd and the committee has already had a couple of meetings.
- DHA Office Committee – Gordon has held one meeting with the committee concerning DHA office space but he is not ready to come back with a report. We won’t be going back to the Farmhouse.
- Stacy Harris said that Mill Glen Swim Club donated $1,600.00 toward the heart Of Dunwoody AED project. Robin added that all officers will have training prior to them using the AEDs in the patrol cars.
Board Discussion and Vote
- The Board voted unanimously approved funding up to $2,500.00 toward the Adopt- a-Spot brochures.
- There was discussion about the Vernon North appeal including our tenuous standing with the City and the 50 foot buffer zone. It is important to determine whether City Staff followed the proper procedures and if the ZBA had the proper materials to vote on the variance. We would not be named as a party on the suit. Bill Grossman motioned to limit our involvement to $2,500.00 for the judge to determine if proper procedure was followed. The motion carried with 10 ayes, 1 nay and 6 abstentions from most of the City Board members who are on the DHA Board.
The meeting was adjourned.