Back when it was announced that the Woodlands Garden would be acquiring the adjacent property at the corner of Clairemont and Scott Boulevard, many you wondered about their plans for the site.  This letter released this morning from their Board gives a glimpse of what’s to come…

To our Neighbors and Friends:

Woodlands Garden of Decatur, Inc. is pleased to announce plans to acquire the property located at 915 Clairemont Avenue, at the northeast corner of Scott Boulevard and Clairemont Avenue.  This property was recently purchased by the Decatur Development Authority.  Woodlands has signed an agreement with the Authority that gives us 18 months to raise the funds to purchase the property from the Authority.

This is a tremendous opportunity for Woodlands to preserve the green space at this highly visible location and to provide improved access to the Garden.  Plans for how to integrate this new property are not complete, but we expect changes to our green space that will allow safe entry and exit, some additional parking, and new plantings consistent with our current Garden.

We are also developing master plan improvements for our current 7 acres.   This additional property will provide further opportunity to enhance the Woodlands experience and beautify the corner.  Ultimately, the beauty and serenity of the Garden is our focus.  The improvements we make over the next two years will allow our community to more easily experience Woodlands Garden.

Visit us at woodlandsgarden.org and stroll through the Garden often.  We will keep you informed as we move toward acquisition of the property.  As always, we deeply appreciate your support.

Remember the upside down tree decorations last year?  And how when they didn’t measure up to anyone’s standards, the city replaced them with the old wreaths?

Well, apparently some of those wreaths are 20 years old, so the city and Downtown Development Authority are looking to replace the decorations along with the contractor hired to install them.

From the Decatur City Commission meeting agenda this evening, Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne writes…

The purpose of this memorandum is to request approval to enter into a contract with Universal Concepts for the installation of holiday decorations for the 2014 season.  We bid out the project this year and selected Universal Concepts.    Universal Concepts presented us with the highest level of product recommendations at the lowest cost for installation.  This company is well-respected in the industry and we have worked with them in the past.

Many of the holiday wreaths we currently have in stock are over 20 years old and they show it.   Last year we tried to switch out some of the older wreaths with a different design but the result was less than satisfactory.  We also had a very bad experience with the installation services provided by our former contractor.  Universal Concepts’ proposal includes the purchase of 150 new wreaths for the street lamps, refurbishing 50 of our newer wreaths, lighting downtown street trees and shrubbery, lighting of the bandstand and lighting on all city-owned buildings.   LED lights will be used in all installations and the tree lights will remain through the winter months.  The proposal includes the installation, take down and storage of all decorations.  We propose to add to the inventory over the next few years until we have all new wreaths for the street lamps in downtown and for the Oakhurst business district.  We also asked that simple decoration schemes be developed for each city building to reflect its architectural style.  We plan to add these new items over the next five years.

The total cost for this proposal is $107,000.    We are requesting $50,000 from the City of Decatur to support this project.  The balance of the funds will be paid by the Downtown Development Authority and the Beer Festival fund.   This amount is included in the Community & Economic Development Department budget for FY 2015.  I recommend approval of this request.

Photo courtesy of Chris

On the agenda for tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting, Decatur’s Downtown Development Authority is set to purchase the property at 915 Clairemont Avenue for $695,000 and enter into an agreement with Woodlands Garden, who will make monthly interest-only payments on the property for 18 months.

After 18 months, Woodlands will need to purchase the property or the DDA can sell the property to anyone.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Remember those unsightly garbage cans along the wall outside of Starbucks in downtown Decatur?  They are no more.  Or seen no more, at least!

The Decatur Downtown Development Authority recently funded a public art project to screen the trash bins – which serve many small businesses in the area, not just Starbucks – from the street.  The new screens are now in place – which you can see above.

Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne tells DM that the screen was created by Jason Smith of Smith Iron Works.

From the August Decatur Downtown Development Authority agenda…

Pace Properties has proposed a 176 apartment development on the surface parking lot of the Fidelity Bank building.  Project includes a seven level parking structure with one level below grade in the middle of the site to serve the office building and the residential project.  Residential development will wrap the parking deck. Project meets all C-2 zoning provisions and requires no variances.

h/t: Decaturish

Ralph has a great write up over on Patch about the continuing discussion between Carter, the developer of the 315 West Ponce project, and surrounding concerned residents.

Since the last meeting a couple of weeks back, the developer has made a few concessions according to the article, including 235 apartments instead of 242 and 527 parking spaces, instead of 548.  Additionally…

Carter also tiered the nine units facing Montgomery Street, so that only three stories directly face the street, and removed balcony lights.

The developer agreed to paint the parking garage to match the colors of the apartments. But Gannon said that’s not enough and that facades and trellises need to be installed on the deck’s upper levels.

Like the last time this site was considered for development, surrounding residents remain concerned about traffic flow and shared parking.

If the plan is approved at the March 22nd meeting of the Downtown Development Authority, Carter can start applying for building permits.

As mentioned by Mayor Bill Floyd at the end of Monday night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, the Planning Commission is preparing to hear a density bonus request from the property owner of the Bank of America site at 163 Clairemont Avenue, who plans to build a six-story mixed use structure on the site.  According to information included in the staff report, the development will offer apartment rentals, the first Decatur development to do so since the Ice House Lofts back in 2001.

According to the developer’s application, the development will include 192 dwelling units (14% studios, 60% 1 bedrooms and 26% 2 bedrooms), 10,000 square feet of retail space, and a 5 level parking deck with 300 spaces.  For comparison purposes, 192 units is slightly larger than both the Artisan and the Renaissance developments.

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