Dunwoody City Council makes changes to proposed 20-year comprehensive plan, amid senior-living controversy

Dan Weber right speaks about the city s proposed comprehensive plan while speakers line up to offer their viewpoints Photo by Cathy Cobbs During a marathon Dunwoody City Council meeting on July the panel made major changes to its proposed -year comprehensive plan that will be used as a road map for commercial and residential evolution The draft of the non-binding document will next move to Atlanta Regional Commission ARC and the Georgia Department of Public Affairs DCA for review and then return to the council for another populace hearing and eventual adoption During the three hours the council spent listening to inhabitants comments and debating the plan the majority of discussions revolved around acceptable recommended uses for each of the defined character areas The Ashford character area along Ashford Dunwoody Road near the intersection of Ashford Center Parkway is a hot-button issue because of a proposed low-income senior housing complex in that area Dominium a property management and advancement company has requested to rezone the property from O-I Office Industrial to PD Planned Rise to allow the site to be redeveloped into an age-restricted income-restricted housing population with rental units with an approximate -space underground parking garage and eight surface visitor parking spaces On July despite vocal opposition to the proposal the city s planning commission recommended the plan by a - vote It will move to the council for a general hearing and first read on Aug Opponents of the Dominium project demanded to move the acceptable list of uses for senior living from a green designation appropriate to red inappropriate Former Georgia State Sen Dan Weber during society comment before the council debated the plan noted restricting the density that the apartments would bring units per acre would maintain our neighborhoods as the top priority Related stories Dunwoody Planning Commission defers decision on low-income housing Dunwoody Homeowners Association will not backing low-income housing rezoning These revisions reflect a community-supported vision for upsurge and equip council and staff to engage with developers who will bring desired townhomes and cottages to this area Weber commented The council did not approve moving the senior-living use to red but did shift it to a yellow designation However the point may be moot Even if the senior-living use was moved to red it will not affect the Dominium proposal which is going before the council in August The new comprehensive plan will not be adopted for several months at the soonest because of the ARC and DCA review period and other viable revisions The deadline for adopting the plan in order to meet regime requirements is Oct according to Dunwoody city staff Former Dunwoody City Council member Robert Wittenstein who is one of the people spearheading the opposition to the Dominium proposal reported he was disappointed about the outcome of that one issue in the Ashford Character Area but that I thought council had an extensive and professional discussion He also announced he felt the new plan was an improvement over the existing comprehensive plan Su Ellis another resident who opposes the Dominium project stated she also was disappointed with the council s decision but felt the group s voice was being heard While we are disappointed that the second edit to move the senior-living use to red was not approved for the Ashford Character Area we are happy with the recognition that maintaining our neighborhoods is the top priority Ellis commented We fully expect this philosophy will be reflected in future zoning and expansion decisions During the meeting council members made dozens of motions about acceptable-use designations and for the bulk part senior-living multi-use and mixed-use was moved from green to yellow in several character areas In other action the council recognized Sarv Dharavane who as a fifth grader came in third in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May discussed solar potency options for its city hall building heard that the city s audit revealed no notable findings Dunwoody city staff is still working to unravel the myriad of changes to the comprehensive plan made during the meeting Rough Draft will assessment further on the changes when the city issues its official meeting summary The post Dunwoody City Council makes changes to proposed -year comprehensive plan amid senior-living conflict appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta