Call To Order / Start Meeting Recording 7:01pm.
May 13, 2025, Meeting Minutes Approved without dissent. May 2025 Treasurer Report Approved without dissent.
Public Safety Committee Update – Chase Miller, Myron Polster
Alcohol Permit Awareness:Alcohol Permit from Eastside Swim and Social (872 Cavanaugh Ave SE, Atlanta, GA 30316). Discussions have been ongoing. During the last NPU-W LUZ meeting, the applicant agreed to delay their application by one cycle to work with the neighbors to come to alignment on a “Good Neighbor Agreement” – those discussions are still ongoing / pending. Update from Myron: The terms of the agreement are nearly worked out, but the business’ proximity to residences is a sticking point. Neighbor Jake Lee-High comments: Pool owners are reluctant to compromise on neighbors’ noise concerns and number of people who will use the space at a given time. Business wants 50. Neighbors have suggested a barrier wall, but that probably is cost prohibitive. Neighbors would vote to recommend denying the alcohol license. Jenny Murray: Outdoor music is not allowed in NC16 and although this business is not having outdoor music, it will be a noise producer by having outdoor events with 50 people. Neighbor Billy Mays: Shares a fence with the property. He would like this business to work, but he’s worried about how it will affect his family’s quality of life.
Public Safety Update
Zone 6 Update – Sgt. Clayton – In general, there has been an uptick in crime. As usual, burglaries from parked cars are an issue in East Atlanta. Q: Updates on drug sales in the Village. A: The crime suppression unit is targeting those areas. Q: Could we use police reports to get the alcohol license of the Village bodega denied when it comes up for renewal. A: From Liliana Bakhtiari: Very difficult to deal with “frequent fliers,” people who are repeatedly arrested for drug crimes and released. Q: Is theft of an AT&T cables stolen from utility poles a police issue? A: No. AT&T or similar company deals with those crimes.
Elected Officials’ Reports
Council Member Liliana Bakhtiari – She asks that we follow up with her about the “frequent flier” issue and how the county might also be brought in. Housing trust fund has been used to fund Intown Cares caseworker and that program now is starting in Sweet Auburn. Michael Nolan, our caseworker, has been taking on more clients and B’s office is trying to get more funding for that program.
Tree Protection Ordinance – rewrite has been stalled. Today it passed out of committee without a recommendation to the council, which will vote on Monday. Various changes have been made. Q: Street near her home near Bouldercrest has been unfinished for some time. How do they find out the status? A sidewalk near her stops for three houses and then continues. How can they seek to get a complete sidewalk? A: Email her office about the street and she will check into it. Regarding the sidewalk, new builds have been required to put in sidewalks, but older houses did not have to do that retroactively. Homeowners are responsible for their sidewalks, so can add them on their own. However, B may have a solution. Again, email her office with the location. Q: Re the tree ordinance. EACA member is concerned about tree protection standards being removed. Will this be added to the zoning code? A: Legal department says the standards are not enforceable and developers have threatened to sue, so the decision was made to remove them. Q: Is the alcohol advisory committee still working? A: Yes. A report should be delivered before the end of the year. Q: Re the tree ordinance: Bouldercrest triangle development threatened many trees. Recently, signs notifying of tree removal plans went up on the wrong street and also the right street, but it fell down, so the signs were difficult to see. The new tree ordinance means something like this could not be appealed. Is there a way to get the deadline for appeal on this project extended? A: B will look into this, but says she thinks the developers do not have certain permits. Q: Re the tree ordinance: How much has the budget for sidewalk repairs increased this year? A: It has increased for areas where the city owns the sidewalks. She got some increases for Sweet Auburn and parts of downtown and will use some of her discretionary funds to address problems with her district’s sidewalks. But this summer there will be some crosswalks added by GDOT on Glenwood Avenue. Q: Asylum building is a site of an encampment. What can be done about that? A: She will make our neighborhood caseworker knows about this. She’ll also engage the owner and ask about fencing. The owner is very good at manipulating the code enforcement situation. Q: Will the I-20 and Moreland redesign do anything to make the area more bike and pedestrian friendly? A: GDOT is in charge of this and has already put a not-great design out for bids. B and neighbors have written to GDOT, met with GDOT and now folks are doing regular walk-throughs with GDOT to advocate for changes. She suggests a group like the South Moreland advocates form for this interchange.
More from Public Safety – For vote: East Atlanta Strut application – Michelle Rice:Motion to recommend NPU-W approve the application for the East Atlanta Strut, which will be 9/27, was approved without dissent.
PAD (Policing Alternatives & Diversion) update: Annette Johnson reminding us that we can call 311 and ask for PAD to come out and help when we encounter someone who appears to be in distress. Hours are Monday through Friday until midnight. Please leave a contact number if you call PAD so you can find out what PAD did or be available to provide more info. Contact Ms. Johnson at Annette@atlantapad.org.
Commissioner Nicole Massiah’s office: Isaac White: Juneteenth celebration on June 14. Commissioner is visiting civic groups and HOAs this month. Iwhite@dekalbcountyga.gov, 470-596-4017. Q: Vacant private school on 1539 Cecilia is decaying and has become a center of gunfire and other crime. A: He will look into it. Commissioners are working on policy for blighted properties. A: EACA member has a client who is working on developing that property. She gave her phone number to the original questioner.
Land Use and Zoning Update – Jenny Murray and Holly Sasnett (See meeting recording for slides and more details.)
Application for vote: V-25-116 — 1416 May Ave SE – Front-yard, side-yard setback reduction: Applicant seeks a variance from the zoning ordinance to 1) reduce the front yard from the required 35-feet to 22-feet 1-inch, and 2) reduce East side yard from the required 7-feet to 5-feet 2-inches.
Recommendation from the committee: 1)Voted to support variance application with the condition of receiving support letters from neighbors adjacent to each side of the property and those across the street. Applicant subsequently submitted four neighbor support letters –from neighbors on each side 1420 & 1412 May Avenue and diagonally across the street 1423 & 1411 May Avenue. 2)Applicant updated elevations and floor plans, emailed June 3, 2025. EACA body passes the motion to support without dissent.
For awareness: U-25-020 — 1088 Bouldercrest Drive “The Language Garden”: Applicant seeks to re-new their Special Use Permit for The Language Garden, located at 1088 Bouldercrest Drive SE on the property of the Berea Mennonite Church, in East Atlanta. The initial application 21-O-0735/U-21-23 was approved in late 2021.
Recommendation from the committee: Supports renewal of requested SUP. The application requests a term of 5 or more years. Committee suggests a term of 10 years due to preschool’s benefits to the Community and administrative burden for more frequent renewals.
Business Highlight (See meeting recording at https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/yjpd0yarZ0PkAd7b4rnDWGS8n5R_1JXeu4VfQeiKNFGxVXAK0AUnE0HgL8_aHyTC5cDks10DlxROFDI.7Q9KJh_aaEQ7gbdp?eagerLoadZvaPages=sidemenu.billing.plan_management&accessLevel=meeting&canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FcRFp-GbDGv3oCK6EY6zP8w0ZpOl707jh2I2-wo2vFwfrPL2MExxB_z6W6Ov5vYet.vlBK_4cm3fKIATvn for more) – Efforts we’re taking to boost East Atlanta Village commercial area. The August meeting of the East Atlanta Business Association will be a meet-and-greet with EACA members to brainstorm on this issue. August 19 at Argosy Brig from 6:30 to 7:30 with snacks and networking 30 minutes before and after.
Arts and Culture – Maria Edwards, Rich Lindeman Alex Levy, Tim Cook, Bill Gould: East Atlanta participated in the 13th Annual Atlanta Fringe Festival. We’ll be sharing more about how it went and our plans to expand our partnership next year.
Parks & Greenspace – Alex Levy, Tim Cook, Bill Gould: EACA / Trees Atlanta Partnership to remove invasive species in Brownwood Park: The first of 4 city-funded projects took place Saturday May 31st and went great. There were 23 volunteers who worked north of Pendelton to dig up Chaff Flower. Next volunteer dates areSaturday, July 12 and Saturday, August 2. Need more local volunteers!
Pavilion Construction – in the works. Aiming for the second week of July for completion.
Ormewood Forest – waiting for a meeting / in-person site visit to be scheduled with the City of Atlanta (e.g., Parks and REC, Watershed, Park Pride). Following this meeting, we will start to activate the space. Interested volunteers should email OrmewoodForest@eaca.net to get involved.
Announcements / Community Updates
We’ll experiment with a new meeting format in July. We’ll cover business and voting items in the Zoom hybrid meeting. After that, we’ll do in-person breakouts to talk about the various things EACA committees are working on. The intent is to get ideas from members who may not have time to join a committee but still want to keep informed.
