Urbanization of Dunwoody

The Good, the Bad and the Gridlock

City of Dunwoody, Economic Development Director Michael Starling wrote an article published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle entitled “Urbanization occurring in a nodal pattern in Dunwoody” and touted the “benefits”.  But assuming that high density is a benefit is a stretch. 

The reason for the city’s formation was to get control of zoning in order to protect against ‘high density’. Dunwoody had “maxed out” on apartment units at 10,000 and bought the “pipe farm” to stop another apartment from being built. That property is now building single family homes.

Adding apartments creates havoc for public schools and poor maintenance and tenant selection puts apartments on a path to limit its lifecycle.  The same goes for condos who allow owners to rent to renters who “turn over”. 

Density at PCID

Perimeter Center Improvement District started with Perimeter Mall and spread to what now is a full-blown mini-city like you see at Lenox Mall in Buckhead.  Dunwoody homeowners knew this would happen, but the PCID is limited to the area north of the intersection of I-285 and Ashford Dunwoody Road and we never really have to go there unless we work there. 

It is an advantage for Dunwoody residents to work at PCID because, even though the traffic is bad, the commute is short.  The other advantage to living in Dunwoody is easier access to the central Atlanta Metro area.

Having a MARTA station at PCID only benefits the retail store and other minimum wage workers who live elsewhere on a MARTA line, or Dunwoody residents who are able to ride MARTA to go downtown to work.  Most working moms and dads use cars, because they have to pick up kids and run errands.

Our experience with office space rental has been a mixed bag, because of poor maintenance and increasing rents. These buildings will not last as long as the Empire State Building will, because tenants don’t own most of the building.

Attracting jobs to Dunwoody is possible, but you have to ask what kind of jobs these are and where their workforce actually lives.  Dunwoody gave State Farm an $83 million, 15 year tax holiday for moving to PCID, so the $500,000 a year in property taxes isn’t being collected.  Also, these aren’t Software Engineers who would be able to afford a single family house in Dunwoody. 

New construction is pricey and for most consumers and businesses is overpriced.  The City of Dunwoody should not be giving tax holidays or cash bribes to businesses to relocate in PCID, it’s already crowded and needs roads added and would cost the city to build them. 

New construction apartments over retail stores in mixed use districts are too pricey for the minimum wage workers who work at these retail stores.  We used to have families living over their stores in the old days, but they all owned the land and the buildings and didn’t rent.  That kept their overhead low and their prices reasonable. They did have better security for their stores than rentals provide and their commute was a dream, they walked downstairs to the store.

Millennials are still living with their parents and working at minimum wage jobs, so most of them won’t be moving in to new apartments or condos at PCID any time soon unless they are high earners.  Most retirees will either remain in their Dunwoody homes or move to the Exurbs, but will probably not move to an apartment in a mixed use development. 

The majority of single family homes in Dunwoody are well maintained, but their streets are not.  Many Dunwoody homeowners are high earners and have the funds to maintain their homes. 

The City of Dunwoody, incorporated in 2009, inherited some bad zoning calls from DeKalb and deteriorating roads and storm sewers, but have spent most of their millions on consultants, studies, hype and fluff. They are just now addressing the road maintenance and storm sewer replacements.

Asphalt roads have a half-life of 25 years.  After that, the road beds deteriorate creating cracks and potholes.  The large rectangular patches you see on our roads are road-bed replacements.  After 50 years, asphalt roads require total replacement

Before 2008, the cost of milling and resurfacing 1 mile of a 2 lane asphalt road was $150,000.  After 2008 the price rose considerably due to federal transportation grants with additional consultant and design costs for cronies.  In Dunwoody, the cost increases were 50% to 100%.

Before 2008, corrugated steel pipes were used for storm drains.  They lasted 25 years and then began to rust.  After 2009, Dunwoody chose fiber pipes that will last 100 years or more.

The US economy has weakened and we’ve seen many office building complexes torn down and replaced with town homes. 

The “urbanization fad” is part of UN Agenda 21 and was invented to attempt to convert Americans to European urbanization, but the “global economy cabal” is failing and Obama is leaving and that should end federal mal-investment in “transit-oriented development”.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader