One of the most talked about pre-”Great Recession” Decatur development projects is back from the dead.

The city has sent a letter to residents surrounding the 315 West Ponce 10-story office building and its giant wind tunnel parking lot stating that “An application for a building permit has been submitted for a new mixed use development at 315 West Ponce de Leon Avenue.”  The city will be hosting a meeting at city hall on Tuesday February 26th at 7pm for adjoining property owners.

CLICK HERE to view the full size site plan and the variety of elevations of this project.

As this is a new development project/plan for this site, the development must follow new downtown multiple dwelling ordinances, who’s “R60 next to C2″ components were developed in no small part with this property in mind.  And according to Planning Director Amanda Thompson, the current plan is “zoning compliant”, which was not the case the last time around when the developer desired a parking variance (under the old pre-ZOUTF revisions).  After the neighborhood meeting, the developer will likely “present to the DDA [Downtown Development Authority] in March or April depending on what changes come out of the neighborhood meeting. Then once those are finished they will submit for a permit.”, according to Ms. Thompson.

Feel free to point out other differences between this project and the previous one, but two of the most obvious ones to me are the inclusion of the sidewalk-smooching West Ponce building (“Building A” for those who lived and breathed this development debate back in 2008) and the open courtyard along Montgomery Street.

h/t: Patch

Mayor Jim Baskett recently attended a legislative lunch with the DeKalb delegation down at the General Assembly . At Tuesday’s Decatur City Commission meeting, the Mayor provided an interesting recap of the discussions regarding recent annexation attempts.  Here’s the quote in full…

We mostly discussed annexation as you might imagine.  There was not much agreement by the people that were there about the issue.  But the general assembly members encouraged the cities to get with the county to try to have some constructive meetings to do some long-term planning about the issue so they’re not dealing with [annexation] on a piecemeal basis.

Decatur City Commissioner Patti Garrett’s latest newsletter is an embarrassment of copy-and-paste riches!  Let’s start here…

The City of Decatur is implementing a pilot shuttle program on Wednesdays for Oakhurst residents age 60 and older to downtown Decatur thanks to a mini-grant from the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services. The shuttle will have a trial run on March 6 and will officially begin March 13 in partnership with DeKalb County Human Development Department, which already has successful Golden Shuttles in Toco Hills, Chamblee and South DeKalb. Several shuttle stops in Oakhurst will allow residents to come to downtown Decatur commercial district to take advantage of services, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, medical and dental offices, public library, and government offices. It will provide access to entertainment and cultural opportunities at the Decatur Recreation Center, as well as on the square.

The shuttle is one of the projects in the process of being implemented based on input for the 2010 Strategic Plan and senior citizen focus groups. Decatur is establishing itself as one of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Lifelong Communities. A key component to a Lifelong Community is the ability for residents to Age in Place. The shuttle will be adapted based on riders’ input on shuttle stop locations. Riders can register at www.decturga.com/lifelong-community or pick up a registration form at Decatur City Hall. For further information or to have a registration form sent to you, contact Lee Ann Harvey at leeann.harvey@decaturga.com or 678-553-6548.