Fresh Loaf

Decatur Metro reports that the developer of 315 W. Ponce de Leon Avenue, a mixed-use project that’s caused some nearby residents to question its size and potential impact, has altered its plans for the project. A building that was proposed along Ponce de Leon Avenue has been scuttled, Decaturite says.

Well, the developer made [a reduction in units] by eliminating the building that originally was to be squeezed in along Ponce between the existing office building and the street, while retaining the rear building that would be built within the existing parking lot, with a parking deck situated behind Fairview and courtyards along Montgomery (view above is along Ponce Place). Livable Growth has the full plans here [pdf available at Decatur Metro].

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Next step is for this new plan to go before the Planning Commission this Thursday at 7:30p.   If all goes according to schedule, they will make a recommendation to the city commission, which will vote yea or nay on the project next Monday (Dec 15th) at 7:30p, along with some other issue regarding annexation.

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Remember Decatur Court? The mixed-use development proposed for the Wachovia building near downtown Decatur? The one that concerned nearby residents because they feared it would tower over their properties and not have enough parking to handle the new residents and workers?

Our dear friend Decaturite brings word that a consultant brought in to mediate talks between the developer and residents is giving it another look on Wednesday, Dec. 3 from 6:30-8:30 at City Hall. The development’s also shrunk a wee bit.

In an e-mail from Otis White of Civic Strategies that Decaturite posted:

We are convening a meeting about the 315 W. Ponce project on Wednesday, Dec. 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 at Decatur City Hall. The meeting will be in the City Commission Room.

Background: A group of neighbors has been in direct talks with the 315 W. Ponce developer since our Oct. 15 meeting, and these talks are continuing. The developer presented a revised plan to this group in response to issues identified at the Oct. 15 meeting. While neighbors recognized the concessions being made by the developer, they identified problems with the new proposal. In response, the developer revised the original site plan that reduced the number of units from 218 to 160 units and eliminated the need for a parking variance.

Emphasis added. To check out the rest of White’s e-mail, head over to Decatur Metro.

(Screenshot from JLB Partners)

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Decatur Metro’s all over the latest smart-growth shenanigans in his burg.

First, there’s the news that the celebrated Otis White of Civic Strategies will sit down with nearby residents and developers of the controversial 315 W. Ponce project to help the two groups work out the kinks. (The developer recently postponed a requested commission hearing because of an uproar over parking at the proposed mixed-use development. Read the harrowing account of the most recent late-night public hearing here.) The sitdown led by White is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in Decatur City Hall.

Next, one of the groups that help concerned residents rally against the 315 W. Ponce project’s scope has now focused its attention on Trinity Triangle near bustling downtown. There’s an interesting conversation going on there about the debate.

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Decaturite over at Decatur Metro breaks the news that JLB Partners, the developers of the controversial 315 W. Ponce, have requested an “indefinite deferral” from the city and asked the development authority and planning commission to convene public meetings so various kinks and concerns about the project can be ironed out.

Decaturite posted a well-written message from Duane Truex, a neighborhood resident with a really cool name, that sums up much of the concern about the proposed mixed-use development at the doorstep of downtown Decatur. These two paragraphs really stood out to me:

We are NOT anti growth, we live in mixed use development and always have in this neighborhood around the 315 project (Ponce place, Montgomery, Fairview etc, etc…). It *is* our backyard so we want growth to be sensible, properly scaled, proper quality and to the benefit of all…as well as something that honors Decatur’s past and future. Yes we are idealists. But we are willing to work with the city and developers on a proper project.

For the record we reached out on several occasions to Hudson Hooks [ed. JLB Partners' Atlanta associate]and company. We drank together and talked and attempted to sit down in a small setting to discuss the project. My guess is that the developers were of the opinion (somehow) that it was so ‘in the bag’ they did not need to listen. Moreover they may have underestimated both the skill set extant in these neighborhoods. We are parents, tradesmen and women, artisans and professionals–engineers, architects or various flavors, scientists, producers of content, lawyers and others who can research, reason, design, problem solve, and if needed, resist.

(Screenshot courtesy of JLB Partners)

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