To All,

 

Attached is the notice for S.J. Collins Enterprises, LLC’s June 13 Community Meeting for the redevelopment of the Nalley dealerships on Church Street between North Decatur Road and Milscott Drive–18 acres total. The proposed project includes a 35,000 sq ft 365 by Whole Foods Market (a new streamlined concept), 54,000 sq ft of restaurants and retail, and up to 300 luxury apartments. The meeting is at 7pm and will be held at North Decatur United Methodist Church, 1523 Church Street.

While the prospect of new businesses is exciting, this intensive change also has consequences that must be dealt with early on. This past week, board members of the Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association and Sycamore Ridge and Sycamore Station Homeowners Associations met with the S.J. Collins development team. S.J.Collins’ presentation was followed by a lengthy discussion of two chief concerns: traffic impact and needed pedestrian improvements. Along with the impact to the Church Street corridor and intersections, key affected streets will be Sycamore Drive where entering/exiting Church Street is increasingly difficult to navigate for residents, as well as for emergency vehicles and visitors to DeKalb Medical; Forkner Drive and Medlock Road (between Church Street and Scott Boulevard) where there’s been a steady uptick in cut-through traffic over the past year; and Winn Way which is heavily used and in dismal shape to handle more volume. Additional cut-through traffic on interior neighborhood streets is also likely. Although the developers were polite in listening to our concerns, the tricky politics of this project being located within the City’s proposed annexation map was cited as a factor for declining to contact City of Decatur as an affected adjacent government. While we’re hopeful the S.J. Collins team will see the upside of tackling the above listed traffic issues, the responsibility falls on residents and government officials to ensure it gets addressed. 

This project is located in DeKalb District 4 and Super District 6 (Commissioners Barnes Sutton and Gannon). With the regrouping of the former Cross-Neighborhoods Committee to form the DeKalb Cross-Neighborhoods Council comprised of neighborhoods located along Scott Boulevard and Good Growth DeKalb, City of Decatur and northeast quadrant residents are no longer effectively represented on that committee for any new projects in the Church Street vicinity. As it’s the Church Street area neighborhoods and HOAs who are immediately affected here, we’ll need to band together to get results. A meeting of Church Street area representatives is being coordinated with the S.J. Collins team, and the results of that meeting will be shared soon after.

Please plan to attend the June 13 Community Meeting presentation as a good turnout by Church Street area residents is needed. Your help in getting the word to non internet neighbors would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Deanne Thomas

President, Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association