As mentioned briefly in an earlier post, at Tuesday’s meeting, the Decatur City Commission will consider the Decatur Housing Authority’s request to rezone the Gateway Manor Apartments from RM-60 Multiple Family Residential to MU-Mixed Use.  The Planning Commission has already approved the request.

According to the “project narrative” in the application, “The Housing Authority of the City of Decatur intends to redevelop the property and add residential units to the site. The increase in density is necessary to accommodate replacement residences for senior residents that are currently located on another property. This increase in density will make it economically feasible to redevelop the housing on this site. The current zoning for the site, RM-60, does not allow for any variances of any sort.”

The site plan states a planned building height of three story residential buildings and the demolition of existing structures located in the 25′ stream buffer and the “restoration of the stream bank, drainage improvements, and a new pavilion and pedestrian pathway within the 75′ City required buffer.”

(It’s hard to make out the building locations in the site plan above, but there are faint dotted lines if you look closely in the PDF.)

You may recall a conversation a few years back about extending Fairview Avenue through this site and better connect it with downtown Decatur.  This is not included in this plan.

Julie sends along this announcement from the Wylde Center…

Gardeners of all experience levels are invited to celebrate National Seed Swap Day with experts, members and friends of Decatur’s Wylde Center, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014, at the Decatur Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore Street.  The free event is from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. and includes a presentation at 10:45 a.m. by Grant Olson, public programs manager of the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa.  Olson will talk about how to plan a home garden for seed saving.  http://wyldecenter.org/events/seed-and-scion-swap/

Seeds will be packaged in envelopes with labels containing the name of the plant, cultivar, date seeds were purchased or saved, planting instructions, days to maturity, growth habits, special details and contact information for the person who provided the seeds.  Those who have not saved seeds to share are welcome to participate and may choose to bring purchased seeds to add to the assortment.  Gardeners planning to attend are asked to sign up in advance and list the types of seeds and/or scions they will bring to swap: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C44A4A928A75-2ndannual1.

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MLK Day links

• How May We Serve You? – MLK Servive Project: Day 1 [Decaturish]
• Big Plumbing Issues – MLK Service Project: Day 2 [Decaturish]
• Hundreds gather to celebrate at Ebenezer Baptist Church [AJC]
• MLK Jr helped inspire Maynard Jackson to run for office [SaportaReport]
• Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” [The Atlantic]

Other links

• Cliff Bostock “loves” Palookaville [CL]
• Artist concepts released to enliven Auburn Ave/Connector Underpass [ATL Downtown]
• Save the Date – Oakhurst Wine Crawl Feb 22nd [Patti Garrett]
• Check out this proposed Midtown tower [Curbed]
• High Museum says goodbye to Calder Sculpture [WABE]

Rendering courtesy of Downtown Atlanta

From The Decatur Minute…

Reeves is completing installation of the new storm sewer on Church Street south of East Maple and will start construction of the new system on East Howard Avenue.  During this phase, East Howard Avenue will be closed to all traffic between North Candler Street (at the Dairy Queen) and Church Street.

Starting next week, on-street parking will be available on Church Street and traffic will again run in both directions, except for the area closest to the CSX railroad. Download a schematic plan illustrating temporary traffic changes here.

Following completion of the work on East Howard, Reeves will start installing the new storm sewer north from East Maple towards East Trinity Place.

Photo courtesy of the Decatur Minute

The agenda for this Tuesday’s Decatur City Commission meeting is now posted on the city’s website and includes a few items related to the much discussed tree ordinance.

1. A 6pm Work Session of the “Tree Canopy Conservation Ordinance”
2. Action Item to vote on the Tree Ordinance
3. Action Item that amends the “the Pay and Classification plan to establish the class of Landscape Infrastructure Coordinator.”

As of Monday morning, the city’s Open City Hall showed the following breakdown of “on forum” support/opposition to the question “Do you support the adoption of the tree canopy ordinance?”…

Also on the Commission’s agenda for tomorrow night’s 7:30p meeting…

• Vote on changing the land use designation request from the Decatur Housing Authority of the Gateway Manor Apartments at 421 West Trinity Place from Medium Density Residential to Mixed Use
• “…approval of a residential use in a commercial zoning district and exceptions from the Special Pedestrian Area and HDSF regulations for the property at 506 East Howard Avenue”.
• A $365,000 change order for Beacon Hill to purchase and install audio visual equipment.  Funds are available in the project budget, according to a note from Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon.