Crews are again taking down trees and preparing to level land at a controversial development off Clifton Road.
The decade-long battle over the Clifton Ridge project, which would turn three vacant lots into a seven-lot subdivision, has played out in several court cases. It now is at the center of some Druid Hills residents’ effort to explore cityhood, in a bid to have tighter control over zoning and land-use decisions.
As various challenges and debates play out, DeKalb County has lifted a stop-work order at the site after a Superior Court judge dismissed part of the lawsuit to keep attorney Robert Buckler creating the subdivision near Emory University.
Work is likely to continue even as the Druid Hills Civic Association works to appeal the ruling that it does not have the right to sue against the project.
“These people, without having the right to challenge this, have held me up for two years,” Buckler said. “We are going to keep putting in our subdivision.”
Judge Asha Jackson’s May 9 ruling is just the latest twist in the fight over 4.6 acres that spotlight what makes Druid Hills, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of metro Atlanta’s special places.
The curving streets and leafy lots in the neighborhood, which straddles DeKalb County and Atlanta, were partially laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park.
Houses range from large manors west of the Druid Hills Country Club to the smaller cottages closer to Emory to the east.
Buckler’s lots are closer to the university and slightly larger than the average lots in that area. Just one large house stood there when Buckler bought it in 2004. He tore down the derelict home and proposed cutting up the land into smaller properties for new houses.
Nearby residents —- who had battled other developers over building condos and adding a second-story to the one-level Emory Village retail area —- immediately fought back. The proposal has been in one court or another ever since.
The latest court battle revolves around DeKalb’s decision late last year to grant a permit for Buckler to begin grading and excavating on the site. Also at issue is the lingering question of whether the project needs approval from the Historic Preservation Commission and not just the Planning Commission, whose approval last year paved the way for the permit.
Robert Benfield, a Druid Hills resident and lawyer representing the civic association, said he will petition the state Court of Appeals to weigh in on the case.
Opponents are also hoping Jackson will rule in their favor in a challenge to the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals allowing the project to go forward.
“We have other action pending for appeal,” Benfield said. “This is not over.”
Residents from Druid Hills and nearby neighborhoods have also begun to hold community meetings on the possibility of creating a city. Various options, including the cities of Briarcliff and LaVista Hills, remain under discussion.
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