Chamblee leaders gave a developer their approval to build more than 700 new apartments, townhomes and houses as part of a massive mixed-use project.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to rezone 62 mostly undeveloped parcels near I-285 and Peachtree Boulevard to make way for the 31-acre project, which will be named Chamblee Park. The developer, Toll Brothers Inc.’s subsidiary Thrive Residential, plans to construct 20,000 square feet of retail space in addition to the hundreds of homes.
City leaders didn’t discuss the project before the vote, but they did include 13 conditions for the rezoning. The site will be built around Parsons Drive and Deacon Lane, realigning the existing roads, adding sidewalks and creating a central roundabout. A shuttered church building and a few standalone homes in the area will be demolished as part of the project.
Through several public meetings, the large project has mostly garnered support from residents and city leaders, with the only point of contention being access to the site. The project’s current plan calls for one entrance and exist point at the intersection of North Shallowford Road and Peachtree Boulevard, which was criticized by Chamblee Design Review Board members.
“Just from a good urbanism standpoint, I would generally never propose having only a single point of entry, let alone one on this size of scale,” Joshua Word said during a meeting in early September. Despite the concerns, the board unanimously endorsed the rezoning.
The developer and city staff are talking to property owners to the north about making Deacon Lane into a thoroughfare, connecting to Perimeter Park Drive. As part of the city’s rezoning deal, the developer must construct a multi-use trail and lay the groundwork for the future road connection, so the mixed-use complex can eventually have two entrances and exits. City staff said the second road access point should be implemented before a land disturbance permit is approved.
The site can have a maximum of 816 residential units, but the developer said it plans to build 709. The project includes 304 townhomes, 40 single-family detached units and 365 multi-family apartments, which vary from studios to two-bedroom units. Due to the size of the project, the developer had to seek and obtain approval from the Atlanta Regional Commission to continue.
The project will boost housing stock in Chamblee, which experienced a higher rate of population growth than any other DeKalb County city over the past decade. According to the 2020 Census, Chamblee’s population grew 205% since 2010, which city leaders chalked up to several annexations.
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