Over the past few days, opposition to the potential development at Mead and College Avenue has been making itself heard through emails and phone calls to neighbors, which include some of Decatur’s various board members and community leaders.

Residents and board members have reported they’ve had many discussions about the commercial plans for the corner, mainly regarding the renovated space that will house “The Imperial” and the vacant residential lot next door, which the property owner hopes to rezone commercial to accommodate a new grocery store built and operated by the owners of Candler Park Market.

Reasons for opposition have been numerous, from the potential of increased traffic, noise and parking demands, to the safety of children (in regards to the presence of a bar).

While it seems The
Imperial only needs to go before the city for an alcohol license to operate in the existing commercial space currently under renovation, the market plans to request a zoning change – as reported HERE – for the neighboring residential lot, which creates an opportunity for a community debate before the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Should be interesting.

Love it!  ZBA member Kyle Williams writes in about last night’s approval of a new community garden tucked behind Northern Ave and Oakland Street residences…

Last night the Zoning Board of Appeals approved plans for Tanyard Community Garden (see Agenda Item No. 1 on the…agenda materials). The proposed garden is a tremendous community-led initiative to create useable greenspace in city-owned stream buffer areas that will “build strong communities” as you highlight in your post from yesterday Are Environmentalists Just “Fiddling While Rome Burns?” Our approval might also be the first official action on the new Strategic Plan:

The Tanyard Community Garden is consistent with the goals outlined in the Strategic Plan under Goal #8, which recommends that the city develop a “necklace” of planted bicycle and pedestrian linkages connecting the major green spaces of the city. The connection of the various green spaces will result in multiple benefits: I) easier, safer and more aesthetically pleasing access to existing green space, 2) “new” green space on existing public land, and 3) traffic volume and speed reductions. The City believes that the project will promote a more healthy and active community.

Tanyard Community Garden comes on the heels of ZBA’s approval of Sugar Creek Garden and is part of a citywide effort to identify and create useable community greenspace in these pockets of flood, detention and stream buffer areas.

From Decatur’s Linda Harris…

The City of Decatur Zoning Board of Appeals meeting scheduled for Monday, January 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. has been canceled. It will be rescheduled and we will send out a notice once we have received final confirmation of the date.

Both InDecatur and the DNO report that Decatur’s Zoning Board of Appeals concurred with the city staff ruling last night that the Peer Support and Wellness Center could continue operation on an R-60 piece of property.

Both outlets reported a 3-2 vote, with Board Chair Mark Burnette, Neil Dobbs, and David Goldberg voting to uphold the zoning administrators decision, and Kyle Williams and Neil Norton voting to overturn it.

According to the DNO’s excellent recap, Burnette summed up the issue at hand by asking “Is this a use that would fundamentally alter the character of an R-60 zoning district?”, noting that there were other allowable public uses where folks came and went “all the time.”  Federal law, permits, and missteps along the way by all parties involved were also discussed.

Those who wish to challenge the board’s ruling now have the option of appealing the case to the State Superior Court.

Dave reports over on recently resurrected Decatur Heights blog…

Prior to last evening’s Zoning Board of Appeals, City Manager Peggy Merriss (in the absence of Planning Director Amanda Thompson) submitted a memo requesting the ZBA request the City Commission to authorize a legal review of the Peer Support and Recovery Respite Center at 444 Sycamore Drive by an outside attorney specializing in zoning and land use law.

The request was approved.