Perimeter-area governments meet on development by Mark
Woolsey Posted: 10:53
a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014
A Monday
meeting of representatives of the cities of Dunwoody and Sandy Springs, the
Perimeter Community Improvement Districts and the Council for Quality Growth
produced agreement that a coordinated approach is needed to encourage
transit-oriented development in the Central Perimeter.
The
participants agreed to explore such possibilities as alternative forms of
transportation, the possibility of more and denser housing development close to
transit stations and stops, and better-designed zoning in the area which is
plays host to 123,0000 workers in a 4-square-mile area on weekdays.
Sandy Springs
spokeswoman Sharon Kraun says staffers representing the four agencies who met
Monday will work together on formulating proposals during the next 30 to 45
days, and will fold MARTA and the Georgia Department of Transportation into the
discussions.
Comments
PCID has benefitted from its location. It sits in the center of North Metro, on top
of I-285, with highway access to East and West Atlanta Metro locations. I moved to Dunwoody in 1983 and worked in
Norcross electronics manufacturing companies for 10 years. In 1993 I opened a private consulting
practice and have had easy access to 45 clients’ facilities.
PCID struggles with the traffic created by
having 125,000 jobs. I think it will take some expansion of the top of I-285 to
reduce the gridlock and give Dunwoody commuter traffic a way to enter and exit
PCID faster. It will also take some
expansion of the main roads. Finally, it
will take completing a bypass for I-75 and I-85 traffic to allow interstate
traffic to go around Atlanta Metro.
PCID’s eyes have always been bigger than its
stomach. It is committed to growth as
long as long as the City of Dunwoody is willing to grant 15 year, $83 million
in tax holidays to office complex property companies to subsidize the job
creators in these office buildings. Dunwoody
homeowners are conflicted about their subsidizing their own congestion.
Feelings are mixed. Dunwoody does receive over half of its revenue from PCID,
but road maintenance and city codes are abysmal.
PCID continues to be stymied by the
congestion that plagues all high-density development. The solution to pollution is dilution. If you
have congestion, stop building and move it out of the congested area and
congestion will lessen. High density
developments seem destined to fail.
Urban “sprawl” has allowed population growth
to the suburbs and exurbs of Atlanta Metro and will continue to attract home
building and office and industrial park development in these outer suburbs and
exurbs.
Metro Atlanta Highways & Roads
I watched the Atlanta Metro population grow
from 3 million to 5 million. I was
puzzled by the lack of progress in growing the highway system East to West to
deal with this population growth. I also wondered why I-75 and I-85 were jammed
together in the middle of downtown Atlanta. I was puzzled at our resistance to
add needed lanes. We did build GA-400 to address the North Metro housing
growth, but we are scrambling to fix the I-285 exit ramp to GA-400.
All other large cities had created highway
grids. Atlanta had I-20 connecting East and West, but North Metro had nothing
but the top of I-285. The outer-belt to
encourage interstate traffic to bypass Atlanta traffic was discussed, but not
built.
Atlanta Metro has lost several hundred
thousand high tech jobs and our population has settled back to around 4
million, but the highway system we need in Atlanta Metro remains unfinished.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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