Long a topic of development discussion around these parts, the old, long abandoned Ford dealership on Scott Boulevard (Streetview) may soon have a new life.
The AJC is reporting that it will be phase III of Fuqua’s mixed-use project currently being constructed at Scott Boulevard and North Decatur Road and that a land-use plan will be submitted in January.
The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association site states that “Fuqua Development will host a community meeting at 7 p.m. on January 6, 2016 at the North Decatur United Methodist Church (1523 Church St., Decatur).” regarding the redevelopment.
Google Streetview pic courtesy of MANA
This WHOLE area is getting redeveloped. It needed to happen as there was just a glut of empty space in a lot of these sections. Will be interesting to see what the area will be like in 2-3 years.
Traffic is going to continue to be a nightmare, cars consistently stopped in front of our house during rush hour. I wonder if they have any plans (if MARTA gets the half-penny tax) to put a train stop in that area?
The proposed Marta Clifton Line will run from Lindbergh through the Clifton Corridor to Avondale station via DeKalb Industrial with stops near Suburban Plaza and Dekalb Medical. A better alternative (imho) for Decatur would be to run along Church Street instead of DeKalb Industrial and connect to downtown. This would create a strong transit connection between Emory/CDC and downtown Decatur. Besides, the Avondale station is not much of a destination.
Agree that Decatur would be a better destination for the Clifton Line, but my understanding (after talking to a transpo engineer) is that it would pose much greater structural challenges. Plus, the MARTA TOD at Avondale will make the area more of a destination, and light rail would make it even more attractive.
I also wish the final destination would have been downtown Decatur. It would make us much much more likely to take it than drive downtown or take the 30 minute walk.
Thanks for the info on where the stops are happening. I knew a general idea of where it would go, but not where they were thinking of putting the exact stops. Last question, so it will run up DeKalb Ind. but then it will run up to CDC/Emory through N Decatur Rd? I only ask because we live on the road and am curious as to how/where they are going to fit the light rail line as there are homes everywhere.
Avondale Station will soon be a destination with the upcoming redevelopment of the south parking lot area.
No matter how much redevelopment occurs south of the Avondale Station, it won’t be the destination that downtown Decatur is. Are there even 100 jobs in East Decatur Station? Its future is more residential. MARTA seems to unclear on the type of vehicle for this line and the route is yet to be finalized. There is some existing CSX rail corridor along Clifton, or they could tunnel Clifton, or they could be partially in the existing Clifton right-of-way. They won’t take away lanes from Scott. Options are to tunnel or elevate along Scott; or run along North Decatur Road. That might involve a road diet for North Decatur using light rail, a bike track and improved sidewalks.
I agree that this actually needs to happen. Just about anything is better than that vast wasteland of asphalt that’s there now.
Glad to see this finally getting developed, but what are we going to do about public transportation? This area can’t handle many more cars.
It can’t handle the amount of cars we already have now. Everyday during rush hour in the mornings and evenings N Decatur Rd. is a parking lot. I literally see cars backed up for miles, from the Scott/N.Decatur crossing all the way back to Emory, and even well past this intersection.
I certainly hope the penny-tax goes through so MARTA can help because it is really needed.
Of course MARTA may be more of a problem than a solution for traffic on Scott. The last proposals for the Clifton Corridor had MARTA running above ground on Scott from Clairemont to N. Decatur with a lane reduction from 4 to 2 lanes. How far will that bottleneck back up traffic?
I don’t know how much worse the back up will be but I’d like to find out. Living a few hundred yards from Scott Blvd, I’m all for anything that will slow down the idiots doing 75 mph or more in a 40 mph zone.
the only thing that stops an idiot doing 75 in a 40 is ten thousand other idiots trying to do 75 in a 40.
I don’t disagree about slowing things down, but MARTA needs to go underground. The people driving to/from Stone Mountain aren’t going to be using MARTA. Traffic can back up for miles with 4 or 6 lanes and will only be worse if bottlenecked down to 2 for a half-mile or so. Plus, if Scott is reduced to 2 lanes, there will be even more traffic cutting through the neighborhoods, which is more dangerous than speeders on Scott.
You’re not accounting for the moat.
True!
we just need more roads and wider roads. public transportation is expensive and impractical. alternative transportation is for freeloading hippies. we just need to give suburbanites easier access into the city. we need access roads that feed into superhighways that cut through our area and deliver folks to their jobs and then send them back on their way to their bedroom communities for the night. and when those roads get all clogged up, we’ll built even more. and when we run out of room for roads, we’ll start stacking them two or three high.
agree totally. also, why are we not burning all the trees down? too many leaves and pollen!
tree ordinance.
Put the leaf blowers out of business.