Family Dollar, Decatur GA (pic submitted by Al)

UPDATE: DM has obtained a copy of the lawsuit.  Click HERE to read it in full.

A group of neighboring residents called the “Coalition for Responsible Decatur Growth” sent a note around yesterday evening informing neighbors that an appeal of the City’s decisions surrounding the 315 West Ponce mixed-use development had been “filed with the DeKalb of the City’s decisions in DeKalb Superior Court under an action called a Mandamus.”  According to the Superior Court’s website, the appeal was filed on June 14th.  The list of defendants includes the City of Decatur, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the developer Carter USA.  The letter goes on to say…

We are asking the Court to make the City go back and do it right in several of the areas noted in our May Appeal to the Zoning Board. We also want to legally look at what happened to the 2008 Ordinance that approved a smaller development with more protections for us and the neighborhood.

The note also states that the group is looking to raise $10,000 to pay for legal fees associated with the appeal.

We’ve reached out to the city for comment and will let you know if we receive reply.

UPDATE:  Fox5 also covered the meeting – which includes part of some opening remarks from Mayor Pro-Tem Cunningham – in a segment that you can view HERE.

The Decatur Police Department spoke to a packed room  of around 130 people at the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association meeting last night to discuss the recent increase in crime in the city and surrounding area.  Keith summarized the meeting thusly in a comment last night…

…it was a very good session. With representatives there from APD, Decatur, and Dekalb I came away with the feeling that they truly are working together and that it is a strong working relationship.Chief Booker kicked things off and then Detective (I think) Richards who heads up criminal investigations spoke about the number of events. Then Sgt. Jennifer Ross gave us some details on the robberies before Deputy Chief Lee explained what they were doing about everything. It sounds like most of the juveniles involved in the crimes are from Zone 6 in Atlanta and mostly from right up Hosea a half mile or so from the police station. Sounds like they have lots of intelligence and so far they are not releasing sketches from the robberies because they think they have enough without making them public. It they hit a roadblock, then they’ll go ahead and release sketches to get some help from the public.

Patch also reported that the police said at the meeting that they “had some strong leads and hope to make arrests soon”. Also discussed at the meeting was the resurrection of the Oakhurst Owls community watch program, which has been inactive for several years.

DPD posted the above video message from Decatur PD Chief Mike Booker on YouTube yesterday.