Avondale Estates’ commission recently chose Stacia Familo-Hopek to fill the remaining vacancy on he city’s Downtown Development Authority. The DDA has seven members, three of whom, in language posted by the Georgia Municipal Association “must be taxpayers who live in the city” and four who “own or operate a business located within the downtown development area.”
Along with her husband Robert Hopek, Familo-Hopek is preparing to open The Lost Druid Brewery at 2866 Washington Street, probably around mid June.
“I’m obviously new to this,” said Familo-Hopek, who was selected from among five applicants. “But as I see it, the DDA needs to not only support further development, but to help make downtown a cohesive and accessible area for all residents of the city.”
Avondale’s DDA has established a grander profile in recent years. In 2016 it began getting funded by the city through an intergovernmental agreement. For the first time the board was invested with power to among others, buy property, take out a bond, develop property and market the city’s downtown.
The DDA is currently seeking potential developers/planners for the roughly five acres off U.S. 278 that would include commercial property and a park. Other projects immediately on the board’s radar include continued planning for a 278 road diet, re-establishing a downtown street grid and sprucing up the roughly 80 spaces behind businesses Finders Keepers and Edwin Jarvis that will become a critical downtown parking lot.
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