8/20/05 NPU-B Development & Transportation Review
Link to other information about this project
E-mail Correction Sent to the
Neighborhood on 8/29/05:
I want to correct portions of my e-mail of August 25.
The NPU-B Development & Transportation Committee vote
about the Pope & Land high-rises and church parking deck was actually 5 to 2 in
favor. I had reported 4 to 2 in favor and incorrectly commented that, if one
vote had changed sides, the vote might have been tied.
I also commented that it was unfortunate that some who
turned out to oppose this project were not allowed to speak. I should have
noted that time is necessarily limited at these meetings and discussion of this
project was allocated a very large share of the committee’s meeting time.
NEXT MEETING
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The next step for this project is the CDP Review Committee on September 12 at
6:00 PM in City Hall. There will be very limited time for public comment and
you may not be able to speak. However, your presence is important since they
will likely have a show of hands from the audience about this project.
Gordon Certain
President
North Buckhead Civic Association
E-mail Letter Sent to the Neighborhood on 8/25/05:
The NPU-B Development & Transportation Committee met on Tuesday. It
considered the applications by the Pope & Land/Wieuca Road Baptist Church for
their high-rise and parking deck mixed-use development on Peachtree-Dunwoody at
Peachtree Road.
A number of you attended to speak against this project. Unfortunately, some of
you who came well prepared to speak were not given that opportunity.
(Clarification -- see the 8/29 e-mail, above.) Those who
were able to speak clearly recounted this project’s traffic and land
use/commercial encroachment problems and made it clear that the affected
neighborhoods were solidly against this project.
However, in the end, the Committee voted 5 to 2 (not 4 to 2, as we previously
reported) in favor of the project.
What does this vote mean? It means that the neighborhoods lost round one. But it
was close – if one vote had switched sides (correction -- this is
corrected in the 8/29 e-mail, above.), the vote could have been a tie,
which would have probably resulted in a three-month deferral of the
applications, a deferral which was clearly warranted.
Our next round is on September 12 before the CDP Review Committee at 6:00 in
City Hall (55 Trinity Avenue). I don’t know what opportunity there will be for
public comments, but it is important that you be there for a show of hands
against this project.
The applicants have requested a one-month deferral of consideration of their
zoning application. (This is neither positive nor negative.) This delay means
that these applications WILL NOT be considered at the August 30 and September 6
meetings at NPU-B. This also means that the September hearing before the Zoning
Review Board has been deferred to October 13. (See updated schedules below.)
PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE CHURCH
We will meet with our district councilmember Howard Shook next week to enlist
his support for our neighborhoods. If you would also like to let Howard know
what your views are about this project (or anything else), please e-mail him at
hshook@atlantaga.gov or call his office at 404-330-6050.
In addition to Howard, our area is represented by “At Large” councilmembers Mary
Norwood (mnorwood@atlantaga.gov), Ceasar Mitchell (ccmitchell@atlantaga.gov),
and H. Lamar Willis (hlwillis@atlantaga.gov), all of whom can reached at
404-330-6030. You can also send letters to the City Council at 55 Trinity Ave
SW, Atlanta, GA 30303. When you write or call about this project, make it clear
that you are commenting on the mixed-use high-rise and parking deck applications
Z-05-44 and Z-05-45 on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road. Otherwise, they might be
immediately aware of what you are talking about. Your calls and e-mails about
this project will help them to understand the depth of neighborhood opposition
to this project.
The leadership and membership of the Wieuca Road Baptist Church will be voting
within the next several weeks on whether to approve this development. According
to Mr. Blount, the church representative who spoke at Tuesday’s NPU meeting,
there is enthusiastic support for the project within the church. If you would
like to contact the church to let them know what you, as their neighbor, think
about this project, please send an e-mail to Reverend Michael Tutterow, senior
pastor, at mtutterow@wieuca.org or call at 404-814-4471. The church’s address is
3626 Peachtree Road.
Thanks for your help.
REVISED MEETING SCHEDULE
Please attend if you can. (The first meeting is especially important.)
1. 9/12 6:00 PM – City CDP Review Committee
City Hall, City Council Chambers, 2nd floor
A big turnout is really important.
2. 9/27 7:00 PM - NPU-B Zoning Committee
2nd Ponce de Leon Baptist Church 2715 Peachtree Road
Enter at the Green Awning, room 158.
A big turnout is important -- limited public comment opportunity.
3. 10/04 7:00 PM - NPU-B Board
2nd Ponce de Leon Baptist Church 2715 Peachtree Road
Enter at the Green Awning, room 158.
Little/no public comment opportunity.
4. 10/13 6:00 PM – City Zoning Review Board
City Hall, City Council Chambers, 2nd floor
A big turnout is important.
For more information on this project, see www.nbca.org.
Gordon Certain
President
North Buckhead Civic Association
Link to other information about this project