DHA is a Lobbying Organization

The Dunwoody Homeowners Association was created in the 1970s to represent Dunwoody homeowners in zoning decisions being made by DeKalb zoning.  Dunwoody was an unincorporated part of DeKalb County.

Lobbying Organization Definition - Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. https://www.google.com/#q=lobbying+organizations+definition

DHA also initiated the 4^th of July parade and the Light up Dunwoody Christmas activities and added the role of a Civic Organization. Membership in the DHA is available to individual Dunwoody homeowners for an annual dues of $40 per year. 

After the City of Dunwoody was incorporated in 2009, the DHA continued to have zoning applicants present their projects despite the fact that the City had established Commissions to review all project applications and City Codes.

But the DHA continued to vet project applications and developers continued to present their projects to the DHA.

The DHA Board of Directors shows 5 Executive Board members, 24 Directors, 6 Emeritus members and 10 current or previously elected officials including the Dunwoody City Council members.

The mindset of this group is dedicated to “smart growth” and “economic development”. This is compatible with the Dunwoody Chamber, PCID, GDOT, MARTA, ARC and UN Agenda 21.

The Board members of the Dunwoody non-profits like the Dunwoody Nature Center, Preservation Trust and Spruill Arts Center continue to succeed as special interests and can be considered “activists” like the DHA.

The good news and the bad news is that these groups are one big happy clique. They may disagree individually on some issues, but they don’t want to alienate the group. Like a legislature, are not above horse-trading and are careful not to burn their bridges.

There is no evidence of classical conflict of interest.  I don’t think any of them are developers or land speculators, who would benefit materially from decisions on projects or zoning applications granted.

The bad news is that they are missing input from the majority of Dunwoody homeowners and like the City Council, they vote according to their personal preferences.

Your average Dunwoody homeowner is more concerned about traffic gridlock and fights to keep their residential streets from becoming cut-through routes for commuters trying to avoid the delays on I-285 and G-400. Most of them could live without stream buffers, on-street bike lanes, multiuse trails to MARTA and high density development in PCID. Your average Dunwoody homeowner isn’t a DHA member, doesn’t go to DHA meetings and doesn’t share the DHA mindset. 

The 66% of Dunwoody voters who rejected the Park Bond vote in 2011 and the 66% of Georgia voters who rejected the 2012 T-SPLOST and the 80% of Dunwoody residents who opposed the multi-use trail in Brook Run, the roundabout at Womack and Vermack and the ½ mile re-do of Dunwoody Village Parkway on the Save Dunwoody website 1450 participant poll in 2013 identified the size of these conservative voters.

The younger segment of Dunwoody homeowners are less concerned about city overspending and less informed about the cost of critical infrastructure. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader