Decatur Planning Director Amanda Thompson sends in this announcement…

After over a year of study and deliberation the Zoning Ordinance Update Task Force (ZTF) will be presenting their final recommendations for consideration to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. and to the City Commission on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 7:30 pm. The proposed recommendations can be found at http://www.decaturga.com/index.aspx?page=641

Based on the direction of the 2010 Strategic Plan the proposed recommendations encourage community gardens, allow for shared parking in commercial areas, update regulations dealing with accessory dwellings and provide new standards for transitions between residential and commercial properties.

Thank you for your past participation on Open City Hall and at the public meetings held throughout this year. The task force members encourage you to attend these final hearings to share your thoughts and if you have written comments please email them to 

We’ll likely go into more detail on these recommendations in the coming days, but for now I thought everyone would like to know the info was available for their perusal and/or intense analysis.

• Tyler Perry filming in Avondale this week [Patch]
• Beltline gets some love from the Urban Land Institute [AP]
• The MARTA “Safety Slide” video [Fox5]
• Lake Lanier at lowest level since historic drought [AJC]
• Best Art Books of 2012 [Brain Pickings]

Picture courtesy of Brain Pickings

Nfdecatur sends in this pic via Twitter of the Decatur Christmas Tree being decorated in anticipation of the tree lighting this Thursday night at 7pm atop Little Shop of Stories.