Extending Montgomery Street Across Commerce Drive
Decatur Metro | November 4, 2013This probably is less exciting than it sounds. How’s that for an intro?
In order to continue to provide access to the Decatur Conference Center from Commerce Drive and NOT grant a perpetual easement to a private entity (which was a concern to some commissioners), the City Manager is recommending to the City Commission this evening that they extend Montgomery Street across Commerce as a “public way” to where the planned driveway for the 160 Clairemont development will begin. As noted in Ms. Merriss’ note…
This “public way” will provide ingress and egress to the 160 Clairemont property, but will also be accessible by any member of the public and will benefit all adjoining properties.
If approved, the “public way” will be in line for some lovely thermoplastic striping. That and you can feel free to call it “Montgomery Street” if you want. But it’s not a street, it’s a “public way”.
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Would be great for them to restore parking on this street!
I’m a little confused. So is this saying it will become possible to get from Commerce through to Ponce Place and vice versa via this new “public way?” Because that would be handy, and might alleviate some of the traffic concerns surrounding the 315 W. Ponce development.
Also, try saying “vice versa via” three times fast.
That was my initial thought when reading the headline, but it reads to me like they are recommending only taking the sidestreet that currently sits between the Artisan and the proposed development at 160 and designating it as part of Montgomery.
Booo…Who cares about that?
At the very least, maybe this will plant an idea in someone’s head. Not even sure if it’s possible, but as I said, if it could be accomplished, would really help with a lot of the concerns about traffic once the new apartments are built out.
No. There’s nothing about taking down those posts. I don’t think the neighborhood would like that much, though the “give me a street grid or give me death” people might.
Technically the posts are on Beaumont, not Montgomery, right? There would be more work involved in making that little Montgomery spur a through street.
As someone in that neighborhood, I’d at least mull it. But at this stage I’m probably only thinking of the benefits and overlooking the downsides.
Oh right. Geez…and here I was thinking Beaumont all morning. You think I’d know better, what with the countless years of 315 discussions. Just getting old.
This is interesting, considering the closing of Beaumont several years ago, resulting in a drop in traffic on Ponce Place between Beaumont and West Ponce. Re-opening Montgomery might siphon off traffic before it hits the residential area north of Montgomery on Ponce Place and allow drivers going to 315 West Ponce a route other than cutting through the CVS parking lot. There might be a downside, so more thinking is needed. But this seems worth a look.
Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.
Looking at it on Google Maps, the chief problem would seem to be that you’d effectively need to run Montgomery to Commerce directly between the bank building and its parking lot. Not sure how that would work.
I re-read the post. The city manager appears to be addressing only the portion of what used to be Montgomery that is now a driveway from the conference center to Commerce. Splitting the old Decatur First Bank property in half with a road extension does not seem like a feasible project.
I have mentioned the extension of Montgomery to Commerce to the “city”at previous meetings. Managing the impact on the old Decatur First Bank property is a challenge, but not insurmountable. There may also need to be some management of left and/ or right turns. I think I mentioned this “Bigger Picture” in response to some of the new “traffic calming solutions” that have been sprinkled through the neighborhood. As I recall no one jumped up and down and told me it was a great idea….It more like a polite pat on the head. I still think there’s some potential there.
I suspect once the 315 W. Ponce apartments are done and occupied and the associated challenges become real rather than theoretical, there will be a much more receptive audience for solutions like this.
This is a great idea.
Hi All,
There is no new road – the City and Commission are talking about the driveway between the Conference Center and the Fidelity parking lot. If it’s named a public way, then the City does not need/have to give a permanent easement to the developer.
Hard to believe but at one time, Montgomery Street was a typical Decatur neighborhood. From Ponce Place, there were houses on both sides of the street all the way to Oliver Street (?), which was the location of the Mary Gay house before being moved to its present location. You might find this weird but I occasionally have dreams of walking down Montgomery, hoping that Ms. Smith asks me to ride my bike to the store and buy her a Pepsi, seeing Mr. Queen working around his triplex apartment home, and stoping to admire the house with the small front yard of perfect zoysia grass. I believe that Montgomery dead ended into Oliver but you could cut through several yards or the parking lot of the Lawyers Title building to get to the rear of the Plantation cafeteria and see what most kids on Ponce Place dreamed about, the Miss Georgia Ice Creme store. Their five cent cones and delicious milk shakes were the best. The only thing left of old Montgomery is the side yard of the Eickhoff home and the alleyway.
Mr. Queens daughter and grand kids still live in Decatur. I wonder if they have any old pictures of the neighborhood.
Fred’s post helped confirm my guess. I found a map that pre-dates Chris’ memories. We’ve had a lot of changes. Check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23465812@N00/8008174109/
Montgomery used to connect to Coventry?? Who knew!
Restore Brooks Street!
+1 (As long as it can be done without making things dangerous for Gateway Homes residents. But I imagine that the closing off of that street had more to do with segregation than safety.)
Wow. Lots of fun to look at. Not only was the old Square intact but Sycamore went all the way across to Atlanta Ave. No Renfroe (what was there then?) I’m trying to identify all the square icons with flags on top. I recognize Glennwood, Oakhurst, DHS, Winnona Park. What are #59 and #48? The Post Office and American Legion (hence Legion Place)? P.O. and Ponce de Leon Elementary? Where is Trinity High School? Was DHS already integrated in 1963?
There were houses where Renfroe was before it was built – facing College, Kings Hwy, Ansley and Adams St. There are still walls (and maybe steps?) on the Ansley side of the block.
#59 is St. Thomas More School. #48 is Ponce de Leon School. Trinity High would have been on Herring Street, but it says a lot about the culture in that day to see that THS is not even identified on a map that does include a private school. THS won a state championship in football in 1965, so it was definitely still open in 1963.