Meeting called to order at 7:07 pm, August 14, 2012
New Neighborhood Members –
New Pastor at Berea Mennonite Church.
Jeff Blau – Lightspeed BMW Twilight Criterium – August 18.
The bike race road closure will start around noon. Flat Shoals, Metropolitan Place, Metropolitan Ave, Glenwood and a small portion of Haas. Has flyers with maps. This is a cycling event with road bicycles. There is a time limit. Amateurs will race about 20 minutes; professionals about 60 minutes. At 1 pm, traffic will be completely blocked.
Question – Haas resident – what is the blockage.
Answer – will be ingress and egress. Only road that is totally blocked will be Flat Shoals.
Question – any relation to the criterium in Grant Park?
Answer – yes, we are doing it in coordination with the Grant Park team. There race is on Sunday, the 19th.
Question – in terms of diverting traffic, there will be a dead end where FS intersects with Glenwood?
Answer – will have to turn on to Gresham before FS. Comment – will want to get some signs to notify people.
Answer – have barriers several feet up from the intersection. Officers will divert cars at the barriers.
Question – who is handling security?
Answer – VC Williams is the lead. Hodge will be working the event a half day.
Question – what will you do with cars that can’t get moved?
Answer – have the authority to tow them. We will try to do our best not to tow. But if they are in a danger zone. New signs are going up tonight. Answer – in years past, COA public safety has provided those signs. The small signs we have right now aren’t going to work very well. Comment – yes, they’ve already been rained on.
Answer – FS will be covered this evening. The signs are yellow and do stand out. We are going to do our best not to tow.
Question – are you going to have vending?
Answer – no We have permission to use the three parking lots at the Argosy. If there any cars stuck on the inside of the course, in between the races we can negotiate cars in and out safely. There will be 12 course marshals and 6 police officers around the course and can figure out how to get cars out. All the bike shops know about the race.
Public Safety – Ted Bradford – we do not have any license applications this month. Ted passed out crime maps for the neighborhood this month. Most of the crimes in the past month have been around the businesses and are vehicle larcenies. Officer report – the last week we were up 18% and the week before we were down 18%. Doesn’t mean anything until you look at them one by one. Relative to last year, we came down. Trends for 612. We have one patrolman who is patrolling this area. We are having issues with car break-ins. 4 last week. 2 shopliftings and 3 residential burglaries. This is not good. Tied for last year right now. Crimes against a person are relatively infrequent, so they don’t really affect the crime stats for the year when taking the year as a whole. Car break-ins are up 23%. Don’t leave anything in your cars. Distinct to Atlanta-Dekalb part of Zone 6. Robberies we have almost exclusively happen on the side streets of East Atlanta Village. Be aware of your surroundings. Chiefs have approved overtime for the next few months so we can put 6-7 more patrolmen in the power hours. Hopefully we will see crime drop from this.
Question – we still have speeding cut-through traffic.
Answer – I know Steve. We are working on getting the officers with radar guns. Portland is not a street we are allowed to run speed traps on. Neither is Berne.
Question – could we get a grant for that?
Answer – lots of restrictions on where we can set up.
Land Use & Zoning – Andy Schneggenburger – 394 McWilliams, corner of Mcwilliams and Marbut. Applied for a subdivision of the parcel. Intending to build a single family house on the lot. Bought unawares that it had not already been subdivided. Conflict in records between COA and Dekalb. Subdivided in Dekalb, but not in COA. This application will align records in COA with Dekalb. Is the applicants representative here? Yes. The subdivided lot meets all the minimum requirements. Make a motion to approve. Seconded. Question – Is that lot in flood plain? Answer – part of it is in a stream buffer. Owner is confident he can fit the specifications of his house for that buffer. Has been approved at NPU contingent on approval at this meeting. Approved – 18, Opposition – 1, Abstentions -0.
One other quick announcement – the Gordon School parcel is going to be redeveloped. Building will be demolished and building with 150 units of apartments with parking behind.
Question – any progress on a bigger parking structure that could be co-shared with the village.
Answer – trying to work with the owners on that. A lot of things would have to fall into place beneficially for them to make it work.
Question – what about retail on the ground floor.
Answer – not in their plan. They don’t feel like there’s a market for mixed-use in this area.
Question – Moreland LCI. When will it come up for re-review.
Answer – Never. Comment – was my understanding that things are changing and that it will be offered up to public for comment again. Answer – the only thing left to close the loop on that is the city’s adoption of the changes to the zoning in this area.
Question – is there any discussion about something like LCI for the business community.
Answer – no, the money was available for a limited time. ARC is transitioning from being a planning initiative to an implementation initiative.
Question – didn’t Ron speak to some possible input as far as residential properties within the LCI zone?
Question – anything new about the redesign/rebuildout of McDonalds and Wendy’s?
Answer – haven’t heard anything about that.
EABA President – Brent Cunningham could not make it. Last month EABA had elections. Brent owns Elder Tree and the old ACE building. EABA and EACA will now have a relationship again.
Friends of East Atlanta Library – Lynne Bryant – it is open season on getting rid of your old books. On Saturday, adults only party between 4-6, drop off your books, enjoy an adult beverage. Any time the library is open after Saturday, you can drop off your books. September 7 is the last day we are accepting books. On the 15th we will have the sale at the Strut. We store our books at Martha Brown. There is a box in the foyer before the automatic doors. Do not leave books in the book drop.
East Atlanta Strut – Laird Ruth – EAV Strut is September 15. Not going to have the 5K this year. We’ve had to cut back, but we are still having the circus in the parking lot, 4 stages – 2 the EARL parking lot, 1 behind Earthshaking, 1 across from Holy Taco. 10am-11pm. The parade will have a different footprint this year, going down Patterson. We need volunteers, 2 or 4 hour shifts. Passing around a signup sheet. If you know of any places where we can get more and/or bigger sponsors in the $1-2K range, please let us know.
Questions – you forgot to say the kids area is Alice in Wonderland themed. Comment – people can come and buy their books back. Trying to keep the festivities in shady areas and parking lots.
Question – what are the booth fees?
Answer – check with Lori Van Voorhis.
Question – doing anything with the EA Roll before the Strut. Answer – yes, trying to work out the details. On Saturday, the cars will be parked at Armour tire. Still taking entires for cars and motorcycles.
Question – what is the parade route?
Answer – the plan is similar to last year, but one block down. Starts on Patterson at McPherson, south to Glenwood, end at Ace Hardware.
Parks and Greenspace update – still finishing the fitness trail, but we are working on Phase 2 (adding mulch all the way around). Thanks Jonathan Barhite and his wife who really pushed and organized to have this done.
Questions – for East Atlanta Roll, how do you register? On the Strut website (www.eastatlantastrut.com). Same for volunteers, artists, sponsosrs. EACA will be volunteering in the kids area. We added a beer truck close to the children’s area.
Motion to approve minutes and financials. Approved. Meeting adjourned at 7:47.
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