Karen Handel: “Doraville Could be the WholeSale Capital of the South”

It’s been about a week since the Doraville Business Association had its first meeting. Overall, it appears that the new group is getting support from many different factions in the community. Councilman Bob Roche has told me that he believes the council should do a better job of engaging local businesses. Conversely, his opponent in the last election, Chris Avers, has posted several messages on local e-mail lists stating her unequivocal support for local businesses and this new organization. It has been reported that the entire city council and mayor attended the meeting, along with state representative Jill Chambers and Secretary of State (and gubernatorial candidate) Karen Handel.

The overwhelming support of the DBA on the part of the local political establishment is interesting – but probably points to the fact that the new organization has a lot of money that it may be spreading around in the next election. I was told by Susan Crawford, who attended the meeting, that the thing that concerned her was the comment by Karen Handel that Doraville could become the “Wholesale Capital of the SouthEast” and the wild enthusiasm that statement seemed to generate.

Will the DBA soon begin targeting the recently passed ordinances limiting wholesale businesses? Or support the campaigns of politicians who promise to repeal them? Only time will tell. Overall, this is an interesting development for the city.

April 28, 2009 | Joseph Geierman | 5 Comments »

New Doraville Business Associaton

City council recently passed an ordinance that would ban any new wholesale businesses from establishing themselves along Buford Highway. My understanding is that wholesale businesses were never supposed to be on Buford Highway in the first place, but somehow were able to get permission to establish themselves there over the past 20-30 years.

The zoning changes, which will only affect new businesses that come to Doraville (not existing ones), have fired up the local commercial real estate owners. Jack Halpern of Halpern Enterprises – and owner of most of the strip malls along Buford Highway – has been very vocal in his opposition to the change. Some residents have stated they have received phone calls from a telemarketing firm (speculation suggests the calls are being funded by Halpern) pointing out that the city already has a budget deficit and that this change could make the situation worse by making it harder for commercial property owners to lease space.

Many residents are tired of stores in the city that they can’t shop at and tired of the strip-mall mentality of the current developers. They want to see an improvement in the quality of the businesses here and in the types of developments which get created. Some of this goes back to better city planning and the finalization of a comprehensive city plan – which is seriously overdue. A major failure of our city council and mayor.

It appears that Halpern has upped the ante in this battle, launching a “Doraville Business Association” that will “serve as advocates for the business interests in the city.” They are holding their first meeting this Wednesday at Pung Mei. Whatever your feelings about the wholesale issue, a cohesive Doraville business communitycan only be a positive addition to the fabric of our city life – and is probably overdue. Hopefully that is what this organization will become – expanding to include views that represent a wide range of local businesses – not just the views of Halpern Enterprises. Their press release is below:

Contact: Melissa Mullinax
(404) 825-2430

DIVERSE GROUP OF BUSINESS LEADERS LAUNCH NEW DORAVILLE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

The Doraville Business Association is a membership organization representing businesses, professionals, financial institutions, associated agencies and organizations, and private individuals who share an interest in promoting and doing business in the City of Doraville. Our primary goals are to serve as advocates for the business interests in the city and to promote Doraville as a unique, vibrant destination in the Southeast.

Founded by a diverse group of business leaders, the Doraville Business Association welcomes businesses of all sizes. Building on the strengths of our vibrant, international character, we will champion a pro-business environment that fosters economic development and supports existing businesses.

The association plans to hold a regular schedule of networking events, an annual Celebrate Doraville event that draws local residents and visitors and create a shopping and dining guide for visitors in its first year.

What: Press Conference and Reception to launch the newly formed Doraville Business Association

Who: Founding Members of the Doraville Business Association

o Harold Shinn, Buford Highway Farmer’s Market
o Jack Halpern, Halpern Enterprises
o Larry Levine, BrandsMart
o Charlene Fang, Touchmark National Bank
o Franklin Ly, Franklin Accounting & Tax LLC
o Jack Hamilton, Hamilton Realty
o Dan Cowart, The Cowart Companies
o Peter Hennessy, Hennessy Lexus

State, County and Local Elected Officials invited

When: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
4:30 pm – Press Conference
5:00 pm – Reception

Where: Pung Mie Restaurant
5145 Buford Highway, Doraville

April 15, 2009 | Joseph Geierman | 16 Comments »

Community Gardening Presentation: April 13 @ 7pm

There has been quite a bit of talk recently on local message boards about the possibility of starting a community garden. To that end, longtime resident, Dick Suever, made the following announcement about an event that will be taking place tomorrow at City Hall:

The quest to establish community gardens in Doraville will continue with a presentation by Extension Agent Bobby Wilson Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m. in the council chamber at City Hall.

This is a great opportunity for any folks interested in community gardening, or the budding project here in Doraville.

April 12, 2009 | Joseph Geierman | Comments Closed

Spotlight on Doraville: Brook Park

park

I live in the Northwoods neighborhood of Doraville, which was primarily built in the 1950s and 60s. I love the cute brick houses, the big green trees (that flower so nicely in the Spring) and of course I love our parks.

In Northwoods, we have two large parks – “Autumn Park” and “Brook Park.” Each has its charms, but Brook Park is by far my favorite. Despite being just 1000 ft long and 250 ft wide, it seems to get a lot of use. It has wooded areas, open fields, space for picnics, playground equipment for little kids and two tennis courts. There are always people using this park – playing tennis, running in circles around its perimeter, walking their dogs. It is one of the defining spaces of our neighborhood, and I always enjoy passing through it.

What’s your favorite park in the city? What do you do there? What do you think it’s missing (if anything)?

April 10, 2009 | Joseph Geierman | 1 Comment »

progress was made

We are deleting the definition of ‘family’ from the zoning ordinance. This will close a loophole and doraville won’t be in the business of defining families.

Also, we are deleting the rental provisions, so having roomates won’t be illegal.

The proposed ordinance is based on square footage, but it also includes definitions of bedrooms. We still need to sort that out.

Thanks for your comments,

Bob Roche

April 6, 2009 | Bob Roche | 6 Comments »

Upcoming Events

Hello everyone we have upcoming events on Saturday April 25 our annual cleanup day and this time we will also be planting trees . We will meet at City Hall at 9:00 and break up into groups to clean different areas then hope everyone will bring a picnic lunch and enjoy your neighbors then in the afternoon we will be planting a few trees at city hall. This has been a nice event in the past and hope everyone can come out! In the event of rain it will be held the following Saturday.

On Saturday May 16 at dusk we will be having another Movies Under The Stars to be held at the Doraville Arena it was a lot of fun last year over 1200 people attended this is a great way for our community to come together and have fun and it is free!! Movie will be announced soon last year it was Alvin and the Chipmunks. The North DeKalb Youth Association will be selling hotdogs and hamburgers and there will be face painting, bubbles and other fun things for the kids before the movie starts. So bring your family, blankets and lawn chairs for a great evening!

Respectfully,
Donna Pittman, Mayor Pro-Tem
City of Doraville
678 328-9181 770 451-8745
Pittmanj4@aol.com

| Donna Pittman | 2 Comments »

Chicken Workshop

This afternoon I attended a great class at the Dunwoody Nature Center. The instructor was a guy named Andy Schneider who is known as “The Chicken Whisperer.” He lives in Alpharetta and is helping a lot of people in cities and suburbs get started with keeping backyard chickens. He is also helping folks to educate city officials and other folks to rewrite ordinances in places where chickens are illegal. Doraville is one such place. But I think we could change that. More and more people in cities and suburbs are re-thinking the idea, especially with concerns over the food supply and so on. By keeping a few backyard chickens you can have fresh organic eggs, and great fertilizer for your garden. Plus they eat bugs like crazy so they’re great for keeping a yard free of pests like slugs, grubs, etc.

The class was great – we learned all about caring for the chickens, housing, protecting from predators, etc. Andy and his wife are wonderful folks and they have done so much “homework” in terms of knowing what works and doesn’t work, how to do things on the cheap, etc. They brought some baby chicks with them as well as some 6 week olds who are ready to go outside. All were wonderful. I also bought some eggs from them – they had Americauna eggs, Americauna being a type of chicken that lays colored eggs! They are green and blue like Easter eggs.

Currently, the City of Atlanta allows each residence to have up to 25 chickens, so long as each chicken has a minimum 2 square feet of space, and they have specific verbiage about odor and nuisance. It is similar to the verbiage in Doraville’s city code regarding the keeping of rabbits and other “small animals.” However Doraville currently classifies chickens as “livestock” rather than small animals, and specifically prohibits keeping them.

I think that with a little help from Andy we could come up with a rewrite of the code similar to what Atlanta, Decatur and other cities have, so that people can keep a small number of chickens. It really all comes down to responsible pet ownership as with any other animal. If someone keeps a dog in a confined space outdoors, doesn’t clean up his poop, and leaves him out all night, the smell and noise are going to be a nuisance. But obviously plenty of people have dogs without any of those problems, and so it can be with chickens. The class really did a lot to address people’s concerns and stereotypes about chickens.

Certainly, I think we should have some chickens in our community garden assuming we get one going, which would be great for cheap fertilizer and pest control! That would also help more people learn how to take care of them.

Andy’s web site is: http://www.atlantapetchickens.com

Lots of great info here: http://www.backyardchickens.com

Andy is always available to answer questions, and there is a meetup group that meets once a month for folks interested in these things. I plan to attend the next meeting.

Just thought I’d share this with everybody! If anybody has questions I can try to answer them too, or find out from Andy if I don’t know the answer.

April 5, 2009 | Lee Flier | 6 Comments »

Agenda item: Occupancy rate ordinances

Let’s keep it simple:

No more than 1 adult per bedroom plus one per dwelling up to a maximum of 4 adults.
1 bedroom, 2 adults
2 bedrooms, 3 adults
3 bedrooms, 4 adults
4 bedrooms, 4 adults

More than that requires waiver from the building inspector and mayor.

Rent rooms:

A homeowner may rent rooms to no more than two adults in their home, subject to occupancy rates above.
The homeowner must live in the home, must have adequate parking, and must obtain business license or permit for each boarder, maybe $75 per year.

April 4, 2009 | Bob Roche | 26 Comments »

Comments on NNA-ONA msg board thread concerning Buford Hwy commercial activity

The Chestnut Creek townhomes in my opinion are near the highest quality/price the area will generally support even without the current bad economy. A development/redevelopment of a contiguous say 40 acres or more is another matter, that being of a minimum size to constitute something of a community unto itself. Excluding the GM site, such incrementalism as the Chestnut Creek townhomes is the best the city can hope to achieve—to expect less than a dozen $400,000 homes on a site that abuts Section 8 apartments in a sea of 40 year old $200,000 homes is wholly unrealistic.

Doraville is a relatively high-tax city for non-homeowners, and for homesteads valued in excess of $300,000. Doraville homeowners may not understand that because the city’s high homestead exemption shields most all homesteads from high taxes. Fortunately I don’t think in Doraville’s case that the high taxes are an impediment to higher price residential development, but they could be.

The current Buford Hwy commercial development will be very difficult to change because the Buford Highway corridor commercial development has entrenched itself in its current niche over a couple of decades. (The successful redevelopment of the GM site could catalyze Buford Hwy change, but that site is four times the 40 acre minimum I suggested above.) The synergy in the clustering of like commercial development is difficult to overcome—other examples of nearby like commercial development becoming established over time are PIB inside the Perimeter as a center for new car dealerships, Chamblee’s antique row, motels at the I-85 Chamblee Tucker Rd interchange etc.

I doubt that higher price Doraville residential redevelopment at the same density can much effect change in the Buford Hwy commercial niche. Most of the city’s population resides more than a one-half mile walk from Buford Hwy, the distance where it’s generally accepted that most people become inclined to drive except in leisurely circumstances. If one has to drive a mile, one can drive three-four more miles in five or less minutes (during most times of day thanks to the great location). The occupants of a small amount of higher end residential redevelopment or new development can easily travel to existing nearby commercial areas that serve the demographic—the commercial areas won’t be coming to Buford Hwy serve a smattering of that demographic.

The best means available to effect change in commercial activity is in my opinion higher density higher end is currently present residential development. There’s cause for great concern it will be difficult to achieve higher level redevelopment, and low-end high density development would cement the status quo, or worsen it.

P.S. – I do think Sequoyah and Reynolds have a bad rap. They have significantly improved over the past couple of years and. Say what you will about the overall effect the legislation, but I think it clear that for these schools the improvement is significantly attributable to No Child Left Behind and the (relatively) new DeKalb School Supt, despite my initial concern about the legislation.

| Dave Bearse | 2 Comments »