Brookhaven staff recommends denial of apartment complex on Dresden Drive,
Posted by Dyana Bagby on June 30, 2016.
The Brookhaven Community Development
Department is recommending the Planning Commission at its July 6 meeting deny a
rezoning request to developers seeking to build a mixed-use development on four
parcels of land on Dresden Drive.
The staff’s recommendation was made
public June 30 when the agenda
for the Planning Commission’s meeting was posted to the city website.
Terwilliger Pappas is seeking to
rezone four tracts of land at the corner of Dresden Drive and Appalachee Drive
to build Solis Dresden, a four-story apartment complex with a restaurant and
retail on the ground floor.
The property is currently zoned for
three single-family homes.
Shri Ranganathan, center, who lives
on Canoochee Drive, discusses proposed plans for the Solis Dresden City Homes
mixed-use development at a recent community meeting. (Photo Dyana Bagby)
As part of its reasoning for denying
the request, the staff memo to the Planning Commission states the proposed
development “would not be compatible with the existing character of the area.”
More intense development is designed
to go closer to the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA station as outlined in the
Brookhaven-Peachtree Overlay District whereas this proposed development
encroaches within an area of the overlay that calls for “less intense uses to
include townhomes and single-family residential dwellings,” according to the
staff memo.
“As such, the building design of a
4-story mixed-use development does not conform with the intent of the
Comprehensive Plan to create appropriate transitions moving further away from
the MARTA station and in scale to neighboring uses …” the staff memo states.
The city staff also points out the
development may adversely affect nearby single-family homes due to noise and
glare from lighting. Also, those living on the fourth floor of the complex
could intrude visually on adjacent single-family homes.
“The proposed development does not
provide adequate transition to the adjacent single-family neighborhood
and a lower intense development could be recommended for the subject property
to create a compatible relationship, and to better protect and enhance the
residential neighborhood,” the staff memo states.
Developers
held a community meeting June 23 to
describe renovations to its plans as the result of community input, including
the number of residential units being reduced from the original 206 apartments
to 113 apartments. Eight for-sale townhouses and two live-work units were also
added to the plans.
The developer is proposing to spend
more than $1 million to add 44 public parking spots. Fifty-six parking spaces
for residential and retail have also been added, from 214 to 270. Retail space
stands at 9,000 square feet.
Many people living in single-family
neighborhoods surrounding and near Dresden Drive have been outspoken
at community meetings in their opposition to apartments being built along this corridor, citing too much traffic as
a major concern as well as what they say is a disturbance of their
neighborhoods’ characters. Some people in the neighborhood have also
spoken in favor of the development.
Another controversial apartment
complex is proposed on Dresden Drive and is expected to go before the Planning
Commission next month. MARTA is also planning a large mixed-use development at
its site on Peachtree Road.
http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2016/06/30/brookhaven-staff-recommends-denial-apartment-complex-dresden-drive/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=email_this&utm_source=email
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