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DeKalb News Impacting the Overlay
Elaine Boyer Selects a Replacement for District 1 Planning Commissioner
January 15, 2009
Due to disagreements over planning decisions, District 1 Commissioner Elaine Boyer announced at the beginning of the year that Planning Commissioner Bob Dallas of Dunwoody will be replaced by Bob Lundsten of Dunwoody. Lundsten formerly represented District 1 on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and planned to leave after Dunwoody incorporated. Lundsten’s District 1 seat on the Zoning Board of Appeals will be filled by Brookhaven Zoning Attorney Wendy Butler.
Debra Edelson Chosen To Be District 6 Planning Commissioner
December 22, 2008
With the end of his four-year term, Larry Danese resigned his seat as District 6 Commissioner Kathie Gannon’s representative on the DeKalb County Planning Commission. With Gannon’s recent re-election, Debra Edelson was chosen to fill the voluntary four-year term for District Six 6 beginning in 2009. With a Masters in Urban Planning from NYU, and worked with the Trust for Public Land involving land conservation on Beltline and Chattahoochee programs. Debra acted as the Merry Hills Civic Association Zoning Chairperson for four years, and was a member of the District 2 Community Council for almost three years before her selection as planning commissioner.
County Zoning Rewrite Underway
November 20, 2008
DeKalb County began the process of rewriting the entire chapter of zoning code to support the new Comprehensive Plan that greatly increases density throughout the county. The plan cannot yet control elements like density, height, space until the existing zoning codes are eliminated. The Pond Company was selected as the consultant in charge of rewriting the county’s zoning code. The project is scheduled for completion by September 2009, and the only planned meetings where the public will be able to provide input will occur during the first week of December 2008.
Schedule of Meetings
Workforce Housing Ordinance To Change Overlay
November 18, 2008
The Board of Commissioners is considering a draft ordinance proposed by District 4 Commissioner Larry Johnson and supported by CEO-elect Burrell Ellis that institutes a countywide set of bonuses for any developer willing to incorporate workforce housing. Currently the bonuses would include 25% more units over the Comp Plan maximum (assuming 65% are workforce housing), speedier permits, and no zoning requirements. The county’s Planning Department recommends approval as written. The areas impacted would include Job Centers and Activity Centers. Brookhaven is an Activity Center and the overlay includes a comparable density bonus for workforce housing, but currently this new code would eliminate all development requirements that define the character and style intended by the overlay.
November 6 Workforce Housing Ordinance Draft
Brookhaven Overlay Included in Late Night Establishment Ordinance
November 18, 2008
The new ordinance proposed by District 2 Commissioner Jeff Rader to limit the proximity
of new nightclubs to neighborhood communities was approved by the BOC on November 18, 2008. Initially the ordinance did not include overlay areas specifically, because by law underlying zoning would be impacted. Because the Brookhaven Overlay has been incorrectly interpreted by DeKalb’s Planning Department as not having underlining zoning, all overlays were included in the final draft. The code would force all establishments serving alcohol after 2:30 am to acquire a permit to be within 1,500 feet of a neighborhood. The Commissioners could deny the permit or require conditions. Prior to this approval, large nightclubs like PURE could claim to be restaurants and take over any neighborhood strip shopping center. According to the AJC, the Georgia Restaurant Association threatened to warn all potential restaurants that DeKalb is unfriendly, but there are no restaurants found in the area that stay open past 2:30 - accept PURE.
Building Measurement Amendment To Eliminate Infill Overlays
November 14, 2008
To stop the first District 1 application for a Residential Infill Overlay, Commissioner Elaine Boyer led a committee of builders, original infill committee members, and the Infill Overlay applicant nine months to develop a change in the measurement of residential building height. The change does not reduce current height, but measures it from the undefined front door threshold. It limits how builders can use dirt to hide illegal above-ground basements, but removes all DeKalb residents’ rights to protect home values from incompatible heights. The current maximum height is 35 feet, while Infill Overlays reduce maximum height to 28 feet so three story buildings cannot be built in mature one story neighborhoods. The BOC deferred its vote until December 16, 2008.
Larry Danese Resigns from District 6 Planning Commission Seat
November 5, 2008
Super District 6 Commissioner Kathie Gannon chose Danese to act as her Planning Commissioner four years ago, and during that time he supported homeowners and fought for protective zoning in Districts 1, 2 & 3. In 2008 he unsuccessfully ran against Elaine Boyer for District 1 Commissioner. “When I began my campaign, I resigned my position on the Planning Commission effective at the end of the year,” Danese wrote on his campaign website. “As history shows, you cannot run against the incumbent and maintain a healthy working relationship when those efforts require the participation and support of the District 1 Commissioner.” The resignation of Larry Danese is a great loss to the residents of Brookhaven. Commissioner Gannon has not announced his replacement.
DeKalb Mysteriously Increases All Overlay Densities to Town Center
October 2008
Suddenly the official land use map shows every parcel in the Brookhaven overlay to be increased to the new Town Center designation, as outlined in the Comprehensive Plan. Legally, a parcel’s land use designation can only be changed through developer applications, and those applications are only heard by the BOC twice a year, March and September. There is no known process by which Planning can switch designations at will. While MARTA and parts of Peachtree warrant Town Center, which is twice as dense as Sembler’s development, the much less dense Dresden Drive neighborhood corridor will be devastated once the zoning code is rewritten. The most dense land use on Dresden is half that of Town Center. Currently zoning districts control density, but the upcoming rewrite is designed to give the densities of the Comprehensive Plan prominence. No official reason or explanation for the change has been given.
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