Scott is brief and to the point, but reports that the DeKalb Zoning Board of Appeals passed the parking variance for the Walmart redevelopment of Suburban Plaza.  To quote Scott…

Variance passes.

Now, if you only really care about the end result, you should be good to go.  Feel free to stick around, buy a t-shirt or see what kind of weird links are in the Morning Metro section today.  But if you really want to get down into the weeds, Patch has a live blog of the event. Sounds like things got a little heated.

Decatur-wise, Patch reported that Decatur Heights ultimately took a neutral stance of the variance.

It also sounds like some of you all were there.  If you were, please let us know us all about the beautiful democracy in action.

Rendering Photo courtesy of MANA

The gauntlet has been thrown!

In an article in The Champion newspaper this week County Commissioner Jeff Rader says that in order for Walmart to receive the parking variance it has requested to build fewer spaces than is required under the current code, they will need to “have to show how their project will adapt and change people’s travel behaviors.”

OK, so this is obviously isn’t a really much of a gauntlet.  It’s a purposely vague statement, as one should expect from a public official expected to weigh the pros and cons of any development for a community.  But it sure would be interesting to think about what it would take to change the travel behaviors of Walmart shoppers, wouldn’t it??

So if the Walmart design needs to “adapt and change people’s travel behaviors” the first, most obvious questions are “How many people?”and  “change their travel behaviors in what ways?” Read the rest of this entry »