Deanne mentioned in a comment a couple days ago that Decatur has a 1,500 square foot MINIMUM floor area requirements for single-family dwellings on the books.

I was shocked and awed.

Decatur, home of pedicabs and solar-powered air-conditioning Prius units, requires that you build a house that’s at least 1,500 square feet??  (I bet I’m not the only one with a house – older than the law presumably – that doesn’t currently meet this requirement.)

Diane subsequently sent me a summary of the requirement and it reads like this…

III. Floor Area Limits Related to Lot Size

The current definition of “floor area” for a residential building for the City of Decatur is as follows:

The gross horizontal areas of the several floors of a dwelling, exclusive of garages, cellars, and open porches, measured from the exterior faces of the exterior walls of a dwelling.

Presently, there are minimum floor area requirements for single-family dwellings:

R-60: 1,500 square feet

R-85: 1,800 square feet

Scott subsequently hypothesized in the same thread that the requirement is a remnant of the 1950s-1960s when the city was trying to guarantee “suburban family development of the day”.

So OK, I understand that Decatur is one of the densest cities in the state and that infill development these days is quite rare.  I also understand that many people don’t give a flip about limits on minimum square footage as they do about limits on MAX square footage.  Regardless, if we’re actually into “walkability” and being “green” and “sustainable”, shouldn’t we remove this antiquated law from the books so people who may want to downsize – in a very REAL sense of the word – can do so?

What would Sarah Susanka say?

East Commerce Ave Decatur, GA (pic submitted by Greg)

Angie sends in the info for this Saturday’s College Heights Fall Festival from 11a-2p…

Spirit Wear – School T-shirts will be available for purchase during the Fall Festival so stop by the PTA table and get shirts for everyone in the family!

College Heights Grill – LUNCH SERVED! Plan to enjoy lunch at the College Heights Grill. We will be selling: Hotdogs, Pizza, Nachos, Chips and Drinks, Cotton Candy & Popcorn

Fall Festival Fun – The entrance cost* is $5.00 per child (2 yrs. & under and adults are free) *Cash and checks accepted.

Included in the Ticket Price: Face Painting, Bounce House & Inflatable Slide, Cupcake Walk, Fun Zone for 18 mos. & younger, Bean Bag Toss,  Sack Race, Pin-the-Hat on the Scarecrow, Fall Crafts for All Ages, Fall Family Photos *($1 additional).  Plus More!!!

Decatur’s Assistant Superintendent of Schools Thomas Van Soelen informs us that, as promised, the administration has added free and reduced lunch student breakdowns to all seven of the K-3 redistricting map scenarios.  All the relevant data is now available for your perusal in the far-right columns of the scenarios that you already know and love.

Also for comparison, Thomas sends along the current free and reduced lunch rates across all of CSD’s schools.

• Clairemont                        22.617%
• Glennwood Academy      33.593%
• Oakhurst                            14.558%
• Winnona Park                   19.055%
• Renfroe Middle School   28.377%
• Decatur High School       24.78%

Click the pics above to enlarge and see the design up close

The insanely long wait is finally over.  After absorbing months of cat calls and heckling, the first, official Decatur Metro t-shirt is finally here!

As any DM-addict can tell you, the brilliant catch-phrase “Decatur: There’s a Festival for That” comes from the minds of the first-name wunderkinds “Russ” and “Dave” in a moment of random collaboration way back in late 2009 during the “Describe Decatur in 6 Words” discussion.

And it was all uphill from there!

Lauren and Marcia at Lampe-Farley brought my vague concept of festival line drawings to life in design and Patrick at Decatur Screenprint turned the whole dang thing into tangible, organic objects ready for your discretionary consumption.

Now I imagine one or two of you are thinking “I like festivals and tolerate this website. How do I get one!?”

Good question, disgruntled reader!  Your easiest option is to get yourself over to our BRAND-NEW WEBSTORE, where you can purchase the Men’s/Unisex tee online for just $18 (w/free shipping for a limited time!).

But if you’d like to try it on first or you’re looking for a more fitted look OR want to flaunt your festi-love during the dead of winter, our fitted “Ladies” and “Kid” tees along with long-sleeve versions are currently on display and available for you to try-on and purchase at Decatur Screenprint (located at 340 West Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur, GA).  We plan to make these other options available for online purchase, but it’ll be a few weeks.  I’ll keep you updated.)

All details and joking aside, I hope you like it.  This shirt was a long-time in the making and wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Marcia, Lauren, Patrick and my wife (who continually endures and responds to a never-ending, unfiltered list of my “ideas”).