Among the items on the agenda for tonight’s City Commission meeting is voting on a subdivision of 160 Clairemont Ave so that Paces Properties can build their planned mixed use development on the current Fidelity Building parking lot in downtown Decatur.

Here’s a recent description of the project from the developer from the staff report…

PACES CLAIREMONT is a 176 unit apartment development proposed by Paces Properties at 160 Clairemont Avenue in Decatur, Georgia. Paces Clairemont will be a five story luxury apartment building with predominate frontage along Commerce Drive and Montgomery Street Paces Clairemont includes a ground level leasing office and a resident fitness center and clubroom as well as a number of residential units. Many of the ground floor units will have brownstone stoop entrances directly onto the street frontage. The building is built out to the sidewalk line and it wraps around an enclosed central courtyard area which will offer residents outdoor green space as well as an elegant swimming pool.

Parking for the residential units and the adjacent office building (aka Fidelity Bank building) will be provided by a seven level parking structure (1 level below grade) containing 523 total parking spaces (298 for office /225 for apartments). Paces Clairemont wraps around the parking deck, thereby screening on two sides and minimizing the exposed portions, which are internally-facing, to locations that are not readily visible from adjoining streets. Vehicular access to the parking deck is from shared curb cuts off Commerce and an internal alley leading to Montgomery Street. Sidewalks with street trees and light poles line the entire face of the building.

Additionally, this quote from the Planning Commission minutes indicates that the Commerce Drive road diet, which was one component of the larger C-Streets Ped-Bike Improvement plan is now in-line to be implemented.

She [Planning Director Amanda Thompson] stated that as part of the project Commerce Drive would receive a road diet and bicycle lanes to match the streetscape in front of Allen Wilson Terrace.”

Very low-res rendering courtesy of Staff Report

Decatur Planning Director Amanda Thompson sends in this announcement…

After over a year of study and deliberation the Zoning Ordinance Update Task Force (ZTF) will be presenting their final recommendations for consideration to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. and to the City Commission on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 7:30 pm. The proposed recommendations can be found at http://www.decaturga.com/index.aspx?page=641

Based on the direction of the 2010 Strategic Plan the proposed recommendations encourage community gardens, allow for shared parking in commercial areas, update regulations dealing with accessory dwellings and provide new standards for transitions between residential and commercial properties.

Thank you for your past participation on Open City Hall and at the public meetings held throughout this year. The task force members encourage you to attend these final hearings to share your thoughts and if you have written comments please email them to 

We’ll likely go into more detail on these recommendations in the coming days, but for now I thought everyone would like to know the info was available for their perusal and/or intense analysis.