Apartment dwellers relieved as Dunwoody voters reject park bonds

Print
E-mail

By Patrick Fox

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Voters overwhelmingly rejected Dunwoody's bid to grow its green space Tuesday, giving a new lease on life to some 2,100 apartment dwellers who faced displacement. At the same time, Alpharetta voters signed on for a major downtown revitalization.

Enlarge photo

Kids get off the school bus at Dunwoody Glen Apartments, which is one of apartment complexes could be torn down to build a sports complex

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Kids get off the school bus at Dunwoody Glen Apartments, which is one of apartment complexes could be torn down to build a sports complex

Parks plan creates Dunwoody rift

More DeKalb County news »

In Dunwoody, residents rejected two $33 million bond issues that would have paid for more land and added more amenities to the city's meager park acreage. Part of the land acquisition would have included the purchase and demolition of the Dunwoody Glen and Lacota complexes along Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The apartments are home to about 5 percent of the city's population, including 560 school-age children.

"Those are the only poor people in the city of Dunwoody, and I do not support tearing down their houses," said Kent Burel, associate pastor of Kingswood United Methodist Church. "We need diversity."

Proponents of the plan, including retiring Mayor Ken Wright, said the bond issues would have corrected a serious deficiency in the young city. Dunwoody, with six parks totaling 160 acres, has about half the park acreage recommended by the National Recreation and Park Association for a city its size.

Hunger for green space in the mostly developed city has continued since its founding three years ago.

The city took possession of the 106-acre Brook Run Park from DeKalb County last summer and in February paid $5.5 million for a 16-acre, partially developed site in the Georgetown-North Shallowford area.

Wright said he accepts the vote.

"As one of the founders of this city, our primary motivation and driver was to have local control," he said. "Our localized democracy worked as it is set to, with the voters making the call based on information and various viewpoints presented."

Apartment residents were more jubilant.

"It's good it didn't pass because I work over here," said Jose Miranda, maintenance technician at Dunwoody Glen who lives there with his wife, stepdaughter and three children. "I like living here because they've been fixing the place up."

Sandy Phillips, a resident at the nearby Lacota apartments, said her family moved from Sandy Springs several years ago when her little brother wanted to play football for Dunwoody.

"I like not being forced to leave," she said. "They've been fixing the places up the last year or so."

Meanwhile, Alpharetta, with 71 percent of the vote, took a shine to a $29 million bond issue that will help build a downtown complex that includes a 47,000-square-foot City Hall, a 450-space parking deck, a 1-acre town green and a 5-acre park. The site also would be home to a 25,000-square-foot library, part of a $275 million Atlanta-Fulton County Library building project.

City officials pitched the bond, saying it will not add to property taxes because two other bonds are being retired this year.

"It feels like Alpharetta is catching up to the other cities that have been through this," said Bob Klein, chief operating officer at Digital Scientists right across the street from the proposed construction.

Klein, who lives in Milton and didn't get to vote, said he and his employees are looking forward to a wider variety of restaurants and entertainment that is bound to come with the revitalization. It's something many business people have been waiting for, he said.

"I think they should get moving on it as soon as they can," he said.

Alpharetta is in the process of selecting a program manager to oversee the project and will hold a public forum early next month to discuss a timetable and the site plans as they stand now.

More public meetings will follow in January to discuss architecture and introduce the project team, said James Drinkard, assistant city manager.

Staff writer Andria Simmons contributed to this article.