Committee To Mediate 315 W. Ponce Discussions
Decatur Metro | September 16, 2008Anyone have details on this agenda item from last night’s City Commission meeting?
Request to establish a committee to convene and facilitate public meetings regarding development proposals at 315 West Ponce de Leon Avenue.
I wonder who will make up the committee. In a self-delusional world where I was apart of running such a committee, after quickly getting past the niceties, I’d make it top priority to determine whether either party was flexible in regards to the the number of units being built. All other disagreements seem to stem from that.
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On a similar note, I was informed by individuals watching the meeting last nite that the trail connection between the cemetery and Glenlake Park was killed in kowtowing to 10…yes TEN residents of Glendale who didn’t want their backyard view (Kudzu,,etc.) to be marred by the natural mulch walk which would have created the largest greenspace in the county? Kecia and Mary Alice supported it, but others snuffed it. Why in the world? Another NIMBY situation? Guess the desires of ten residents far outweighs the benefit to our greater community…sigh…
To the topic, why is the City enabling the developer by forming yet another committee, when the neighborhood committee has wanted and requested repeated meetings with developer..only to have the meetings rescheduled/cancelled/etc.?
The neighborhood and developer did meet on multiple occasions but, long story short, neither possessed the necessary flexibility to reach common ground.
Maybe round two will be the charm. I have no doubt the neighborhood will ultimately end up with exactly what they deserve (which you may interpret however you’d like, depending on your position on this circus).
Yeah, I interpret the idea of a committee more of a concession to the neighborhood, since up until this point the city was operating as the moderator but was accused more than once by the neighborhood of being in bed with the developer.
I did not attend last night, but my understanding is that this item was completely removed from the meeting agenda and was not discussed.
I think the neighborhood should find out immediately who is on the committee and start buying them rounds at the Brick Store.
I don’t think the city is in bed with the developer, just playing footsie under the table. Shoes on of course.
Frankly I think the dev is happy not to have to start this right now. Too much uncertainty in the financial realm. Too many housing units available and too much unleased commercial property. Not to mention the way financing is at the moment they are probably going to have to use a lot of their own money. Something no dev really wants to do. Oh, and no juicy tax breaks either.
On the flip side they’ll probably say that downturn means they positively have to have more units to break even.
So hey I say sell it.
Thanks Carl…guess I should wait for the summary/minutes next time. Though I’m curious why it wasn’t discussed or whether it will be brought up again. Guess I should attend the meetings next time if I’m so darn interested.
Jim, for what its worth, in a previous meeting, 87 signatures were collected in opposition to the mulch path, according to this InDecatur post. Squeaky wheel and all…
No surprise that neither side possessed the necessary flexibility. This whole “process” (as DDA likes to call it ) seems flawed. Stands to reason that discussions between only the developers and residents living closest to the proposed project will end up heated and unproductive . Neither group is likely to have a particularly balanced perspective . It becomes hunger for profit and property owners’ rights vs NIMBY…..definitely a circus …
After the Hillyer project fiasco a couple of years ago, there was much talk about the need for a committee to study the general issues related to development of C2 next to R60 but no one -not the Commissioners, not the DDA, not citizens – took timely action. (The City did deal with infill housing and worked on a tree ordinance — I guess those things pushed NIMBY buttons for more people )
If some City codes and ordinances are outdated then now is the time
( now is PAST the time ) to convene a committee of residents, City officals and independent experts to make the appropriate changes. Over zealous developers and NIMBY neighbors will still be a part of the equation but Decatur will have a better framework in place to deal with them .