EACA Monthly Meeting
February 14, 2012, 7:00 pm
New Members? No
Public Safety Report – Sergeant Stephens and Officer Smith are present. Numbers have changed. The beat assignments have been redone and Zone 6 now incorporates some of the eastern part of downtown. Zone 6 lost Thomasville on South and Lenox park/Morningside on the North. Problems in 612 – car break-ins, stolen catalytic converter, AC/units stolen (copper). Last year at this time we were experiencing some problems with pedestrian robberies. Not many of those in the last couple months. Crime is down overall in the zone, but up slightly in this beat, so we made changes to personnel.
Question – What have you done to decrease pedestrian crime? Officer – have patrolmen stay off Moreland and focus on side streets. Question – Any update on situation where 3 year old was abandoned at Bouldercrest and Flat Shoals? Officer – That was a Dekalb County call. Rose noticed police on Moreland at 5 pm doing a speed check. Steve had been complaining about that, so wanted to say thanks for that. Officer White loves to write tickets. Sargeant Stephens’ email address is mailto:rstephens@atlantaga.gov.
Switching command staff in Zone 6. Major Dalton has been promoted. Major Keith Meadows is being assigned to the East Atlanta areas. His parents own Meadow Mortuary. Crime Report Update for January. Down 5% versus prior months, but up since a year ago. Mostly driven by increase in auto break-ins and property theft. Plus a big increase in auto thefts. Steve – thinks Jenny does a terrific job keeping up with the numbers. Normally we do a year over year comparison,
but last year the reports got a little funky for a few months.
Spotlight Presentation by Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School – Matt Underwood, Principal of Middle Campus on Essie Ave in Ormewood Park and Executive Director for the School. ANCS is a K-8 school. Matt wants to let us know about the school and remind us about the school and to encourage neighbors with children that next year’s applications are being accepted right now. More information is available on the ANCS website. Children who live in Grant Park/Ormewood Park/NPU-W and other parts of the city are eligible to attend this school. Information sessions
will be held on Thursday, February 23 at 6:30 pm and Saturday, March 10 at elementary campus at 9:00 am and the middle school campus at 10:30 am. Would love to see you there. Questions for Matt: What size are you now? Between 2 campuses 629 students (394 and 225 middle school). What population is from EA? 6th grade, have 15 students out of 75. Also have teachers and board members who are residents.
Spotlight Presentation by Burgess-Peterson Academy by Reid Tankersley, PTA President, Jeanne Fore, PTA Special Events Chair and Dennis Madsen, PTA Treasurer. BPA is about a mile down Glenwood from here Branan towers. Out of 60 elementary schools, BPA is 13th in rising CRCT scores. BPA made the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) for the last 6 years. As a Title1 school of distinction, BPA has to meet rising goals each year and met and exceeded that. BPA was never suspected of cheating during the APS scandal. Principal Robbins is great and very involved in the school. BPA received a 21st Century learning grant which allows for after school care for any child that wants to be involved K-5. Summer math and science camp are planned, tutors in the afternoon, also enrichment (martial arts/zumba) classes are available. BPA also has an after school scholar academy. A great Pre-K and K facility with access to organic garden and playground as well as their own bathrooms. BPA has a state of the art computer lab and media center with promethium board.
Question – what is a promethium board? A smart board – teacher has a tablet to interact with. Can touch and animate what’s on the board. The BPA Organic Garden is getting chickens soon. We have a gardening classroom with equipment and teachers integrate the gardening aspect into the classroom. BPA also offers counseling services for the kids as well as a specialized instructional coach. We have a very expansive campus that will fit a lot of students. We also have a TV broadcast and recording studio – the kids do the morning announcements. We have 6 full time faculty that are dedicated to children with developmental disabilities such as autism and a sensory classroom for over-stimulated kids. We think this is unique to BPA. Recently BPA received a grant from Atlanta Families Award of Excellence and we will be building an outdoor classroom, called the Hester Outdoor Classroom. The community building day for that is coming up. Will be selling bricks to line the walkway. We have a school store run by parents and students. Kids get bulldog bucks to buy things from the store. BPA is a Title 1 School of Distinction which means we have a certain number of kids who quality for free/reduced lunch. This puts the school at an at-risk school for testing requirements. To be distinguished, you have to meet or exceed the standards.
We have a lot of fun stuff coming up – several community events. 1st is Friends of EA Library and BPA – Dr. Seuss musical night – March 16 at 5:45. We are encouraging people to dress up. Reid mentioned the brick fundraising sale – can be engraved up to two lines. Working at pricing details right now. Can do dedications/corporate sponsorship. The Hester outdoor classroom will be dedicated on April 14. We are building a butterfly festival around it – each classroom will be raising butterflies. Hope to have food trucks, craft fair and camels. There will be 2 community build days – March 17 & March 24.
The BPA apparel sale also coming up. We will also be having a Health Night in May that will lead up to full fledged Health Fair in the fall. Everyone is invited to tour the school tour@burgesspeterson.com; president@burgesspeterson.com is Reid’s address. Dennis – job as treasurer is directing the demographic study. Rather than go into it, he will answer questions after the meeting. One early option suggested BPA would close. The Superintendent toured the school recently and spent 3 hours. BPA is a fantastic facility. He acknowledged it was not a target for closure but perhaps consolidation. Will be having a parent community member meeting the 21st in the gym at 6 pm. Have flyers on the table. Online survey on APS website and in the newsletter. We have PTA members from all backgrounds. Anyone who wants to get involved is welcome.
Question – In the event we get kids from other elementary schools will impact fancy programs? At best right now we are 50% capacity. With new students come new faculty, so won’t be a problem.
NPU-W update – NPU will meet on March 28 at Martha Brown at 7:30 in the Fellowship Hall.
Booting in the neighborhood – Some people have an issue with the Suntrust parking lot. The lot was owned by Inman Park Properties but they foreclosed. Now owned by Community Bank of South. Suntrust, LIT, and Studio Outpost are tenants. Complaint generated from Suntrust. Number of spaces allotted to Suntrust are marked for towing. Ed doesn’t have all the details just yet. The new landlord has placed LIT as the entity taking care of these manners. LIT made some comments that were unfortunate and many people were upset. The lot is private property. Mr. Devlin, CEO of LIT, anticipates the bank building will be sold and then have a new property owner/manager. As of tonight, if you park in that lot after 6pm and are out by 9 am Monday-Friday, shouldn’t have an issue at the moment. Parking between 9 am and 6 pm, Monday-Friday, expect to be towed unless you are visiting one of the businesses there. Flat Iron’s ownership has been speaking with LIT about after hours care of the lot.
Question – understand a lot of the concern was about Joe’s coffee. Do the daytime hours affect Joe’s? Joe’s predates the current zoning scheme, so they don’t have to comply with city parking restrictions. Not sure if Joe’s is working with LIT to address the situation. Ed points out that public parking is free and available in the neighborhood. Gets the impression that there is an internal struggle there between Suntrust/LIT and Studio Outpost.
Question – thank you for talking with these guys but will there be signs posted to say when it is ok to park there. Ed – no because that is a short term resolution.
Question – during business hours M-F no parking in the whole L-shaped lot? Ed – yes. Jenny (Suntrust manager) – she’s great. The Suntrust lot is the L-shape around Holy Taco. There are specifically marked spaces for SunTrust.
Question – there aren’t signs in the lower part? Don’t they have to put signs up? Ed – yes there are signage requirements. Would suggest just not parking in the lot.
1580 Flat Shoals Rd, Unit D – Alcohol License Application– There was an application for this business in 2010. This is a new ownership application. Want to clarify that whatever the previous owner did cannot be held against the new owner. The applicant has signed the Good Neighbor Agreement – will sell less than %5 of his gross receipts of alcohol – has to submit a CPA statement to this effect but has a year.
Questions for the owner – will you be there at the business and what are your normal hours? Owner – 8 am-10 pm. Issues with application: application missing and unit number is missing. Section 5 marked through – need that before it gets to NPU. Sign ordinance is independent from alcohol license but want to know compliance. 50% limit on signage for the business. Currently it is probably 75% of higher. We would like to ask you to move in the direction of 50% voluntarily before code compliance has to become involved. Applicant and attorney are present. Will be at NPU on 3/28 and then go to license review board. One question is what is EACAs role in this process? License law is not like land use. We have more latitude with land use. Licensing laws are very narrow. NPUs’
bylaws require it. Think it is better for the applicant to be involved in community. Gives notice to everyone to the fact that it is there. In the past we have been able to de-applicate people.
Question – This is a new application? Hasn’t owned the store before now? Who owns the store now? Previous owner does. Has bought it from someone else who isn’t there any more.
Question – are you selling under old license now. Alcohol
code says you can sell 30 days under old license and apply for temporary license. Previous owner is gone. No relationship between these two businesses. 5% alcohol sales limit doesn’t
matter here because they haven’t been open for a year.
Question – if we assumed the previous business sold more than %5 alcohol. What will you do to meet the compliance? Ed – until renewal comes up, the amount sold is irrelevant.
Question – in the last week or month has he sold more than 5%. Attorney – has signed all the relevant documentation and can be audited at any time in the next year. He intends to comply with the rule.
Question to the owner – are you over the 5% and if you are what will you do to fix that number? When you apply for a license you are allowed to get a temporary license until you get a real one, pending the application. Can they look at the receipts from the temp license to the full time. Ed, they can, but the ordinance says that you have one year. Cannot look at sales during the provisional period. The alcohol ordinance is trying to be rewritten.
Question – can there simply be another new owner at the end of year? Yes.
Question – is 5% the standard for an alcohol license? No, these are distance requirements from church, single family residence. If you go under 5% you don’t have to meet the requirements. You can’t be within 1,500 feet from another store. Attorney – code requires that he is familiar with the alcohol code before he gets a license. He is there all day every day. He wants to do everything right. He understands you have a history with the previous owner, but he wants to do everything right.
Question – public hearing coming up next week at city hall for people who have a complaint about the alcohol process. Wants to see problem locations have their licenses revoked.
Question – as the new owner would assume that you have sales records from time bought until now – probably not required to, but would you be amenable to showing the records to the community? Does the front of the building still look like the photo presented? Ed – I mentioned the 75% fenestration rate but it should be 50%. Is this a current photo? Yes.
Question – because of the lack of good will in terms of correcting the signage and being forthright in terms of answering questions. Want to make a motion to deny the application. Ed – based on what? Compliance of the sign ordinance is not associated with alcohol license.
Question to the owner and Mr. Hilliard, attorney – how long have you been managing this location? Answer – 2 months.
Question – if you have been managing for 2 months, would you get counseling from your attorney about the sign ordinance? Attorney – will be in sign compliance before get to the NPU.
Question – since current owner took over two months ago, is that when the clock starts for renewal or is that a calendar year thing? Attorney – if he gets the license,
it will be renewed at the end of the calendar year regardless when the application was submitted. Alcohol licenses are not staggered. Everything is renewed in December. Will use whatever number of months sales are available regardless of license date.
Question – on the application please use the property owners name. He does not formally own the business until he owns the license. His position is that he doesn’t technically own the business so he hasn’t made changes.
Question – has signed good neighbor agreements. Single serving sales – will you also comply with eliminating single serving sales. Attorney – hopes he will be given the benefit of the doubt. Alcohol license doesn’t restrict singles serving sales. Attorney is disappointed he is being challenged.
Question – what is disappointing is living in this neighborhood, investing in this neighborhood, and not knowing what the laws/ordinance are. Are you going to remove single sales? Attorney – will comply with the good neighbor agreement. Motion to deny – non compliance with sign ordinance. Seconded.
Question – why is this motion still on the table? Because anyone can make the motion. Vice President – what you are going to vote on right now is Jack’s recommendation
to deny the recommendation from EACA for an alcohol license. After that someone can motion to approve if they like. Jack – based on sign ordinance and attorney’s lack of enthusiasm in answering our questions. All in favor of denial – 2 All opposing – not counting. Abstaining
– 0
Other motions – Kevin moves to approve application with condition that good neighbor agreement is signed prior to the NPU meeting on February 22. Seconded. In Favor – 23 Opposed – 1 Abstain – 6.
Land Use and Zoning – SpaceMax presentation by Childress-Klein, developers. This is an application that EACA does not technically have a vote on. The request for the land use change is with Uni-Dekalb. However, Skyhaven community are neighbors and this will have impact on LCI Master Plan that EACA has approved/adopted. We thought it was a good idea to have this presentation. Current zoning requires different land use (residential, commercial, industrial) as well as zoning. Parcel is bordered to the N/S by single family properties. First 200 ft of parcel is on Moreland/COA/Zoned commercial. Rest of the parcel is in Uni-Dekalb and is zoned multi-family. Applicant is asking to change Land Use from residential to office and distribution which allows a whole different set of uses. Childress-Klein brought other pictures of other sites. This building won’t be nearly as tall. One story at street, three stories at the rear. Two issues – storm-water runoff and reducing the size of the building. Now 3 story, half-submerged to decrease amount of runoff. There are concerns about access to the rear of the property and they are working with neighbors to see what they want to do to preserve access. Will have 10′ sidewalk on Moreland side. Lighting will be kept to a minimum. Very low use on a regular basis as opposed to the town homes; very little car travel. Limitation of usage, 9 am-6pm with a few hours on each end.
Question – how many parking spaces? Around 45.
Question – How does that correlate with your statement that there won’t be many cars in and out? Speaking relative to town home development.
Question – there is a lot of roof space? Have you considered doing a community roof farm? Answer – Green roofs are amazingly expensive. Based on the challenges of the project, it is out of scope. What is the benefit to the community? How do you make something positive on this site? The site is vacant, town homes aren’t coming any time soon? What could happen in the near future that will clean up the land. Get the land in production from tax and job basis.
Question – no taxes for COA? Answer – COA part of land not big enough.
Question – sees giant building not generating any tax revenue for city/community. Why would we support a big vacant building that isn’t generating any community revenue? Answer – right now site is zoned for multi-family which has limited benefits. What we’re proposing has less impact than multi-family. Will be a quieter facility. Lighting – agreeable to conditions to make it more appealing to the community. Thinks that this kind of quiet use is better for the community because it will have less impact.
Question – how could 47 parking space correspond to low traffic. Comment from the audience – They don’t want to take on two zoning issues at the same time; they are trying to do the simplest thing they can by turning the COA part into a parking lot. The rest of the lot is on a flood plain and these folks are using new technologies to build on it. Where the property ends there is a big cliff and another 4 acres that can be used. This is the simplest thing to do to the land to sell the land. One of the significant things here and considering LCI. Right now we’re facing a big difficulty being able to finance residential building. This is a means for whomever owns this property to get out of the financial drag of waiting for this problem to fix itself. What use will this be with property values as low as they are? Right now we have an eyesore and there isn’t anyone who doesn’t want to see an improvement. Big conflict of the idea of LCI, zoning, pieces in city and in the county.
Question – has there been any consensus amongst the neighbors over there? Not in favor. There will be a lot of discussion at tomorrow night’s county meeting. Question
about external finishes.
Question – point brought up about LCI. Once zoning gets changed on this, this is a long term decision. Would like to wait and see what the best long term use for the property is.
Question – not opposed to development, but what considerations have been made to make the COA portion of the property comply more in spirit with LCI? Answer – one of the advantages is that you can treat the front as an outparcel and engage the street, working with sidewalk zones. Mixed
use is a development goal for this area. Question – is that possible for it to be part of phase I? That will be challenging. If they could do it now they would. But there is no market for
any storefront retail. It’s landbanking what they are doing. Would love it when the market comes, would be great but right now it is not economically viable.
Question – under C1 zoning they wouldn’t be able to do any warehousing. Thinks there will be a problem with parking under C1 zoning in Dekalb County. To get a rezoning, it is available on available land in that area and there is available land down the road. Expediency is not good zoning. Doesn’t think it is a good idea for the neighbors. Is there an economic
use for the property? Current property owner has a responsibility to keep the property in a reasonable shape but he hasn’t done that. Footprint is 30K sq ft instead of 45K sq ft in original plan. When is this going to Dekalb County? Community Council meeting somewhat equivalent of NPU meeting at Wesley Chapel Library at 6:30 pm where this will be discussed. From there is goes to planning and sustainability commission and from there to the full commission. March 3 is when it will go to planning commission. What are the immediate neighbors thoughts? This was for informational purposes and because we have the opportunity to send a letter to Dekalb county to present our opinion on the request for rezoning. In light of that, will take a motion to approve or deny the zoning request. Motion that EACA goes on record opposing this zoning change. Seconded, amendment with
some sort of verbiage about the LCI. That we want the development to conform with the LCI. Favor – 14 Opposed – 0 Abstentions – 0
Parks and Greenspace Update – We have interns from Emory School of Public Health – Part of food policy and security class. They will be doing community engaged research and want to work with Brownwood Park Community Garden and EAVFM, also going to research other food access issues in the community. Goals – research food security environment and how well the Farmer’s Market and community garden in the neighborhood. Provide recommendation on how to better provide security and how to scale up garden and market. Open to ideas from the neighborhood. If you have suggestions/questions, contact parks@eaca.net.
Brownwood Park Fitness Trail – Angie and Jonathan are Investigating physical activity that provides social interaction. Using the park means increased use of the trails and with more people in the park, more safe. 98% of people supported walking/jogging trail. 72% supported increased pedestrian
access. Want to create a fitness trail around the entire Brownwood Park. Motion to support. Approved.
EACA Membership Drive March 9 at Midway. Will have a raffle there for 15 different restaurants who have given gift certificates. Tickets are $1. Have a good chance of winning prizes. Plus bring $10 for EACA membership.
EABA – February 29, Graveyard Basement. Have invited all EA business owners.
Adopt a Street – has visuals of concepts of the adopt a street signs going to the city. Will send them out to Executive Board and put it on the EACA website.
Brownwood Recreational Center Community Committee – joint committee between EACA and Kids Club. Doing survey on how we can use the rec center in the community.
Transportation – if you have any questions, comments about how to improve transportation issues in the neighborhood, we meet at 6 before monthly EACA meetings. One current issue is Dekalb County Commission and Marta Board concerning I-20East. Building transit line from downtown to Lithonia. Planning process almost complete.
Seems likely Marta board will adopt HRT3. What that means for us is bus rapid transit. That is all the service we would get.
An express bus running in HOV lane. Wants to write a letter that this doesn’t work for EA. Instead of express buses, would ask for a street car or true BRT with dedicated ramps on/off highway and implementing previously planned Moreland Avenue BRT with a hub in the village. Or drop the plans for any services inside the perimeter because what they have
proposed does us no good. Motion to send letter.
Question – doesn’t think the first suggestion is reasonable. Thinks should make an amendment to strike first idea. All in favor of motion to send letter minus to first option. 15 Opposed – 0 Abstain – 3 Minutes from January and Budget motion to accept. Motion approved. Meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm.
SEABA Updates
By Ashley McCartney
On February 18, 2012, Sweet Cheats hosted our networking soiree. We tried a new soiree format allowing our guests the spot light for one minute to speak about their specific businesses and their ideal customers. It is our hope that this format will foster even more relationships and help promote our local businesses. As we spoke, listened and networked, we enjoyed a variety of the delicious treats Sweet Cheats has to offer. We offer a HUGE thank you to Shirley for her hospitality and her scrumptious treats. Not only does Shirley have the best cupcakes, cruffles, cookies and brownies in town, she has expanded her menu to include gluten free and vegan options. She truly has a great thing going and we are so glad she is right here on Cabbagetown Park!
Our next event will be held March 22, 2012 at Zoo Atlanta. One of our distinguished board members, Rick Hudson, will give his famous “Beltline 101” presentation, which fills us in on the progress and how the project can better our businesses and community. The event will cost $10.00 and attendance is limited. Please RSVP on our Facebook page or send an email to ashmccartney@gmail.com.
On April 19, 2012 from 5:30 until 7:15 p.m., Gardenhood will host us for Networking in the Garden. This was one of the favorite events from last year and we thank Garden Hood for offering to host us again.
Good things are on the horizon for SEABA. Please check out our new SEABA website at www.seabaga.org for information about our new membership guidelines, leaders, membership benefits, and tactical and strategic plans for 2011-2012. If you would like to be on our mailing list or know more about our organization just send an email to ashmccartney@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you. We are also now on Facebook.
SEABA (South East Atlanta Business Association) was created through the merger of the Reynoldstown/Cabbagetown Business Association and the Grant Park Merchants Association in 2006. Our most important goals are to strengthen and grow the business community and enhance the quality of life for all residents. SEABA is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporation operated by volunteers.
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