I’ve received two separate reports of this so far today, so I feel comfortable reporting it.  Both Nittany313 and Gretchen write in that the “Farmstead 303″ signs at the Decatur Depot are being taken down and replaced with “Rail Kitchen & Bar”.

Nittany added that she followed up with staff at Feast – which is under the same ownership as Farmstead – and they said that the same ownership remains, it’s just a new concept.

I followed up with ownership this morning via email for more details on this new name and concept, but have yet to hear back.  More info as I have it.

According to an email forwarded by Ann, Emory Point – a mixed-use development across from the CDC campus on Clifton Road with 82,000 square-feet of retail and 440 “luxury apartments” – will break ground this summer and is scheduled to open in Fall 2012.  (A potential phase two will add another 440 residential units to the property)

While this is news to me, it probably isn’t to anyone in the area, as the area was rezoned by the DeKalb Commission way back in 2007 and area residents were surveyed about the project.

According to the Clifton Community Partnership website, the rezoned 50 acres currently includes…

- 25 acres of forest, now protected under Emory’s land classification plan and the new rezoning site plan

- 10 acres of existing development (the Emory Conference Center Hotel, which had an expansion that was completed in May 2009, and the 1599 Clifton Road facility, formerly known as the American Cancer Society building);

- 15-acre construction site along Clifton Road that previously included a parking lot and several dozen graduate housing units. The Emory Inn also operates on the site, but in time will be demolished.

Back in November, the Atlanta Business Chronicle predicted “Emory Point could be one of the largest mixed-use projects to be launched once the market recovers.”

The  visual above – along with other in this brochure - really gives an idea of the sheer size of this new mixed-use site.   This should be a very interesting project to watch rise from the ground and fill up with residents and retail.

Now, before you answer – a little background.

Back in 2007, the Decatur City Commission passed an ordinance requiring multi-family dwellings throughout the city provide recycling services to their residents. However, the ordinance did not require that multi-family properties use the City of Decatur’s sanitation services. If they wanted, they could contract with third party collection services, as long as paper, glass, metal, and plastic recycling was offered.

Flash forward to this past Monday when Asst. City Manager David Junger was before the commission this past Monday discussing “Sanitation Fee Schedule” for the coming year and the 2.2% fee increase that single-family residential will see on their April 1st tax bill. Concerned about the elevated rate (due primarily to gas prices and less revenue), Mayor Floyd began questioning Mr. Junger and the City Manager Peggy Merriss about the trash and recycling collection at multi-family residences.

Why bring that up? In the words of the mayor “…that’s where the money is.”

“Money in trash and recycling collection?” you may be thinking. Yes. As was discussed in our recent “scavenging post”, recyclables can bring in a good amount of change.

And as was mentioned during the discussion, the reason that third-party companies even consider collecting multi-family trash is because they can collect a tidy profit, especially since it takes just 5 minutes for two guys to collect a huge dumpster of trash and recycling. Compare that to the time it takes the city to collect in a residential neighborhood with as many residents as the Artisan.

With all of that in mind, at the end of the conversation, the mayor asserted that if it was currently costing Decatur tax payers money to allow third-party collection at multi-family dwellings, then maybe they/we should have a conversation about requiring these residences to use the city’s services.

So, with all that in mind, do you think Decatur should mandate multi-family to recycle through the city?