Two Chamblee City Council members mingled quietly in the overflow crowd at a recent DeKalb County meeting, listening as most residents pledged to fight the county’s proposal to rezone 15 acres just south of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.
County officials say allowing light industrial use will help sell the tree-covered land for “airport compatible” businesses -- meeting an obligation placed on DeKalb because it used Federal Aviation Administration money to pay for what was once a residential neighborhood.
Homeowners in the area, many across busy Clairmont Road from the land and airport, want the county to keep the land as is. That way, it acts as both green space and a noise buffer from the state’s second-busiest airfield.
But the presence of Chamblee officials underscored that this resident-airport beef could have more than two sides.
After an annexation vote this fall, Chamblee could swallow the southern half of the airport all the way to I-85. The city would be in charge of zoning changes on that land, just as it was for land skirting the 765-acre airport to the north.
Chamblee rezoned the land within its city limits years ago to allow for shops and hotels.
“If that land had been ours, too, we would probably have moved on the directive and repurposed it,” Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkson said, stopping short of saying just what the north DeKalb city would do if it controlled that land.
“There sure seems to be a lot of community pushback against it, so we’d have to investigate,” he added.
The pending Brookhaven vote also complicates what at first appears to be another squabble in a decades-long showdown between the county-owned airfield and residents who make their homes nearby.
Many opponents of the county’s plan live in Ashford Park and Drew Valley -- two neighborhoods that could become part of a city of Brookhaven after this summer’s referendum. To put an end to any changes in the future, they want the county to drop the rezoning plan or buy the land outright to become a park.
“There is no reason it can’t be kept green space forever,” said Larry Foster, a resident who has organized opposition to the proposal. “That’s what we were promised when this land first sold.”
Airport Director Mike Van Wie said the county could create a park on the property -- as long as it buys the land at fair market price. A recent appraisal values the entire property at $3.5 million, including a 5-acre parcel that the county’s Police Department has on hold for a potential north precinct station.
That project, too, is in a holding pattern. If Brookhaven incorporates and Chamblee annexes, DeKalb will move its north precinct south, into its unincorporated area.
“There are a lot of issues to be considered, but there is no imperative we take any action on this quickly,” said Commissioner Jeff Rader, whose district includes the land to be rezoned. “We are trying to divine what is in the best interest of as many people as we can.”
The next time to hash out the proposal, and all its scenarios, will be at Tuesday night’s Planning Commission meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Manuel Maloof Auditorium in downtown Decatur.
If the commission makes a recommendation, the County Commission will take up the proposal at its May 22 meeting.
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