Dunwoody Update 2015

The City of Dunwoody was incorporated in 2008 and delivered its first budget in 2009.  The city was formed to gain control of zoning and maintenance.  DeKalb zoning was prone to approving too many apartment complexes and did not return resources in proportion to our tax contributions.  Our roads and parks were not being maintained adequately.

What we didn’t know at the time was that UN Agenda 21 compliant planning and zoning ordinances and city structures had been imbedded into all plans for new cities.  Consequently, the “cookie-cutter” plans purchased by the newly formed City of Dunwoody included requirements for functions Dunwoody citizens had never heard of.

These included “sustainable development”, “community development” and the imposition of “visioning” using the Delphi Technique that controls all public input outcomes. Land Use Plans had property intrusion elements like “stream buffers” and “multi-use paths”. UN Agenda 21 also called for bike lanes and “walkability” and excessive land for parks.

Our subdivisions and roads were built assuming automobile use. Our Swim & Tennis Clubs were built to support subdivision recreation. We cannot afford to scrap this model, nor do we want to.  Communitarians can gather to huddle in
transit villages if they like, but it has little to do with us.

Permits requirements were expanded beyond normal building addition construction to include appliance replacement, driveway roof replacement, “Land Disturbance” and other items that had not before required a permit. All permit charges and fees were increased and annual home office fees were imposed.

In the meantime, the Georgia Legislature passed the establishment of “Regional Commissions” of unelected cronies to implement UN Agenda 21 in multiple county “regions” in 2008 and 2010. In addition, the Georgia Legislature passed a slew of laws to allow City and County governments to borrow and tax without restraint. In 2013, additional authority to establish “Special Tax Districts” were written into the Dunwoody City Charter. This would enable the City Council to establish a Dunwoody Fire Department without voter approval.

Over the past 6 years the City of Dunwoody has collected about $20 million a year in taxes. The breakdown of major expenses budgeted for 2015 is:

Police $6.8 million,

Finance & Administration $2.7 million,

Community Development $2.5 million,

Public Works $2.1 million,

Parks $1.2 million,

Information Technology $752 thousand

Municipal Court $579 thousand

Marketing $490 thousand

City Attorney $385 thousand

City Manager $363 thousand

City Clerk $241 thousand

City Council $237 thousand

Total $18.7 million

Source:cod_aocb_brochure_2015

City of Dunwoody Mistakes

Too Little Too Late on Roads

The cost of keeping roads in good condition increases exponentially when you allow yourself to get behind schedule. The city kept road maintenance costs low at $2 million a year, despite the fact that we were 10 years behind schedule in 2008.  We should have been spending $4 million a year on road maintenance.

Our Pavement Assessment Report published January 2014 says that 36% of our roads are rated Very Poor to Poor, 25% are Fair, 5% Good, 18% Very Good.  Ratings of Good or below require base repair.  It takes 30 years for a road to require extensive base repair that doubles or triples the cost. The longer we kick the can, the more we will have to pay. 

The cost of milling and resurfacing roads that are maintained on schedule should be $150 thousand per centerline mile. We have 150 centerline miles of road.  We’ve fixed 18 centerline miles so far, spending $2 million a year for 6 years.  If we continue at the pace of $2 million a year to fix 3 centerline miles a year, it will take 50 years to fix our 150 centerline miles of road. 

Too Much for Not Much

If we had known that becoming a city would result in bad UN Agenda 21 plans, we would have voted NO. We would have been better off rewriting our own plans and ordinances.

It’s hard to explain why we need Marketing, Community Development and Economic Development and why the Wieland Project isn’t done.

Police cannot protect you from crime. You need guns, mace and air horns to protect yourself from home invasion or attack.  The Police show up after the fact to gather evidence and try to catch the perpetrators.  They are a crime deterrent.

EMS cannot keep you from dying.  You need to perform CPR immediately and keep it going until EMS arrives and takes over. 

The threat of leaving DeKalb Fire would result in spending millions of dollars unnecessarily and unwisely. 

Too Much for Abuse

The city has wasted $6 million since 2009 trying to get Chatcom 911 to work. They should have set up their own 911 like Chamblee and Doraville did.

Municipal Court and Code Enforcement generates $3 million a year, but more of it comes out of our pockets than was the case before 2008.

Spending on Community Development has included lots of “studies”. Excessive engineering costs have driven up the cost of intersection expansions way beyond reason.

The city collects $3.5 million a year for “franchise fees” tacked to your utility bills for which they do nothing.

The city has purchased an endless amount of gadgets that are hard to explain, like the cameras to record license plates of cars leaving Brook Run Park, the Cardiac Resuscitators nobody uses, the gated entry gadgets for government vehicles and the uncontrollable weather warning sirens,

The city has excessive “easements” that can be taken by the city by eminent domain.  Many of these easements are 40 to 50 feet from the centerline of the road. These easements should be reduced to 15 feet. Homeowners continue to pay taxes on this land after it is seized.

The split lot attempt in Dunwoody Club Forest is directly traceable to minimum in R-100 being too low at 15,000 square feet. Existing Subdivision R-100 minimums should be 22,000 square feet or 1/3 acre. 

The spot zoning problem allowing a Medical Treatment Facility to locate in the subdivision on Manget Way is directly traceable to the inclusion of “Care Homes” in R-100 zoning.

Homeowners pay their own legal bills to challenge city actions that damage their property value.

Subdivision Lakes in Dunwoody are part of the storm water sewer system.  They collect silt and dump it into the lakes, so the residents can spend $30,000 every 7 years to have the silt removed.

Creeks running through yards are also part of the storm water sewer system and can require 75 foot stream buffers to take your back yard at your expense. Homeowners continue to pay taxes on the land they can no longer use.

Sidewalks take 10 feet from your front yard.  Homeowners are responsible for sidewalk maintenance and continue to pay taxes on the land that was taken. Sidewalks do make sense to connect school kids to their schools.

Bike Lanes reduce the car lanes from 12 feet to 8 feet. Kids don’t use on-street bike lanes.

Data Sources: Pavement Assessment Report January 2014 and Dunwoody GA Budget Report 2015.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader