An amazing before and after.

Before: This pic was taken April 13, 2009

After: Scott took this pic the other day.

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Among the Decatur School Board’s agenda items for the coming week is a motion to approve advertising “for project management services for Renfroe Middle School infrastructure update, Fifth Avenue Academy Building Project, and Decatur Career Academy renovation/addition.”

This search is of particular note because it marks the end of Rosser International’s contract with CSD in May.  Rosser has worked on many CSD construction projects in the last couple years, including the completion of the new Decatur High gymnasium and auditorium and the renovation of the high school’s science labs.  They’ve also done some sketches of the new 5th Avenue Academy.

But many Decatur residents, myself included, were first introduced to Rosser in 2008, when the city was collecting information on whether to pursue a wide-spread annexation of surrounding unincorporated, residential and commercial property.

In a dialogue that stretched over MANY months, it was ultimately proven by residents Pat Herold and Judd Owen that there were serious discrepancies in Rosser’s student enrollment projections, which adversely affected revenue estimates.  This finding, combined with broader worries about tax revenue, was followed closely by a School Board vote against annexation (non-binding), and a tabling of the issue by Decatur’s City Commission.  The item is still tabled as far as I know.

Who will be CSD’s next project management team?  Who knows.  But one thing is for sure; between the School Board and city residents, they’ll certainly have their work cut out for them.

In an explosion of posts yesterday, InDecatur documented many of the goings-on at Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting.  Among the most interesting photos taken were of the buildings to be built on the site of Allen Wilson Terrace.

We saw one of these renderings back in September, and though an architect working for the firm developing the site stated “the rendering is not the final design”, it looks quite similar to what we saw back then.  (Yes Scott, you’re porkchop eaves are still there!)

However, the other rendering, which Dave tells me is the Senior Living Apartments along Commerce called “The Oliver House” (assumedly for Decatur’s Henry Oliver, a local business owner back at the turn of the 20th century, who had is street name taken away from him back in the 1980s, but don’t get me started on that).

Anyway, the Oliver House has quite an interesting style, which I might venture to call “English Manor House Modern”.  Check it out.

Renewal Design Build announced yesterday that it had received a regional Whole House award from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry for its “green” renovation of 601 Third Avenue in Oakhurst.

During its construction in 2007-2008, the Third Avenue renovation was a media darling, from its feature on Discovery’s Planet Green, which helped fund some of the renovation, to its inevitable AJC spread.  The only other Decatur residence with such extensive media exposure in recent years is another eco-friendly home, Wilton Avenue’s RainShine House.

Though at the time of 601’s completion I wondered how REALLY eco-friendly a house twice the size of the old could be, Renewal states that the remodel “doubl[ed] the home’s existing square footage while cutting its energy bills in half.”

Not too shabby.

Disclosure: Renewal is a Decatur Metro sponsor

UPDATE III: Asst. City Manager David Junger responds “Our Storm Water Engineer Julie Gyuricza received this complaint this morning and she is investigating the nature and cause of the flooding. We do not have enough information currently to know why this area flooded.”

UPDATE II: Jon writes in with a second report…”So it turns out there was a major blockage in one of the 18 inch pipes, and the city has already come out and taken care of it. They have also said they will be on the lookout for the area in the future.  I’m really pleased with how quickly the city has responded to us. I hope you let everyone know, because the city earned it’s reputation on this one….”

UPDATE: Jon writes in “Peggy already has the drain crew out looking at the area. It’s really great to see the city respond so quickly.”

Four days ago, Paula reported “rumbling on the Midway Woods yahoo group about the stalled development at Midway and S. Candler. …the latest is that the clearing of the lot has caused huge run-off problems and flooding.”

Yesterday evening, the President of the Midway Woods Neighborhood Association, Jon Rork, wrote in asking for help…

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I’ve received two reports in the last forty-eight hours that the little Roly Poly building on the edge of the cemetery at 811 Church Street has finally been vacated.

We’ve been anticipating this since August 2008, when the city purchased the building so it could be razed to increase the width of the cemetery’s Church Street entrance.

The only question remaining is whether Roly Poly will reopen elsewhere.  Lyn Menne reports that last she heard they wouldn’t.  However, a note on the Roly Poly website states “Relocating. Reopening Feb 2010″.

Only time will tell!

In referencing AP article about the general strength of the health care industry during an economic downturn, Russ dropped an interesting little tidbit about the Decatur economy over on the Decatur Tax Blog…

Although I don’t know what commercial property owner’s vacancy rates are in Decatur, I estimate that at least 11 percent of office-based businesses in Decatur are tied in some way to the health care industry. (Our biggest sub-groups are mental health providers, physicians, and dentists.) That percentage is based off of the number of businesses that have a medical-related NAICS code.

From a business licensing standpoint, it does seem like turnover in retail businesses such as restaurants and shops is more common than healthcare businesses in Decatur, but there are no reports I can easily run in our business licensing system that would back up that observation.

There definitely has been a noticable influx of doctors and health care facilities in the past 2 years, with Kaiser’s spot along West Ponce the most obvious addition.

As first reported here on DM, Decatur and Avondale Estates have revived their attempt to pass state legislation that would annex 32 commercial parcels between their two borders.  This morning, the AJC’s April Hunt reports that this is the week when state legislators will review the plan.

In terms of its chances getting 10 DeKalb delegation signatures to bring it to a House vote, Hunt writes that Rep. Benfield is optimistic.

The owners haven’t changed their stance, but state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield said she is “encouraged” by talks with DeKalb’s 20 other House members who might support a vote. Ten delegation signatures are required for a House vote.

“We are getting an early start this year,” Benfield said. “I’ve been optimistic that this is the year.”

This squares with a comment Rep. Benfield made to me a couple weeks back, when I first covered this issue, saying “I think I’ve got a good chance of passing it this session.”

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At first glance, it may seem that there are few local topics up for discussion as insanely boring as parking.  But just try discussing it with your neighbor and you’ll quickly discover that “parking” is a volatile closet issue for many.  Open that door and you may suddenly find yourself knee-deep in a personal struggle for “what is right” and “what is annoying.”

Here in Decatur, a walkable ‘burb fighting the influence of surrounding speedable sprawl, the issue takes on added weight and dimension.

For decades now, Decatur has bucked almost any developmental trend taken up by the rest of greater Atlanta.  Back in the 1970s, when many of those same suburbs shunned MARTA, Decatur asked that the line be moved so it would cut straight through the center of the city.  And while the Atlanta suburbs continued to crawl across the Georgia piedmont and into the mountains and swamps (circa 2008), Decatur looked towards greater density, shunning wider artery roads with highway-like speed limits in favor of street-narrowing.

But there’s one area where Decatur has a harder time ignoring the car-tendencies of greater Atlanta. Parking.

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In a recent Atlanta Magazine spread asking “dozens of Atlantans” for advice for new Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Decatur’s Own  Lain Shakespeare and Andisheh Nouraee inadvertently showed the broad spectrum of expectation for Atlanta’s massive BeltLine project.

Mr. Shakespeare has great hope…

Atlanta’s best idea is already at work: the BeltLine. The BeltLine’s potential addresses many of Atlanta’s problems so effectively, there’s no reason not to follow its lead. By focusing on what people need to thrive instead of exclusively on what cars need to thrive, Atlanta will become safer, healthier, and more competitive. Expanded transit, connected neighborhoods, affordable housing, and complete streets will foster denser and more vibrant communities.

Mr. Nouraee?  Eh, not so much…

Admit the BeltLine is a park with a bike path, not a mass transit project.

Hat-tip honors go to Mr. Nouraee