Over at InDecatur, Dave reports that after months of consultation and deliberation, city staff has made a final recommendation to the City Commission regarding the zoning controversy surrounding the Peer Support and Recovery Respite Center at 444 Sycamore Drive.

Quoting at length from a letter of affirmation received from the Executive Director of the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network in response to questions posed by Decatur’s Planning Director Amanda Thompson, City Manager Peggy Merriss informed commissioners “that the decision of the zoning administrator to allow the Peer Support and Wellness Center to operate a family home is appropriate.”

However, in the very next breath, the letter alerts residents “aggrieved” by the decision that they can still appeal the decision of the zoning administrator to Decatur’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

Some of those very residents wasted little time speaking out about the city’s decision at last night’s city commission meeting.  Whether they will appeal the city’s decision remains unclear, as Grace Ann Young, who has spoken as the “aggrieved” residents’ representative up until this point, did not detail next steps in her comments to the commission.  But blogger Dave Kell, a Decatur Heights resident himself, promised his readers that “This matter is not going to fade away quietly.”