A FIRST LOOK AT THE PROPOSED PROJECT

Hey Neighbors:

Welcome to our new blog.

As many of you may have heard, The Rock Springs Plaza Shopping Center at Piedmont and Cheshire Bridge is under contract to be sold to a group of developers, who plan to raze what is there and build a substantial new project in its place. This project would be built on land currently occupied by Taco Cabana, the vacuum store, barbershop, sandwich shop, pawnshop, Pot and Pan, pet store, Artlite and the American Deli.

On Friday, August 24, 2007, we met with the architect and the developers to see what they have been planning and to express some initial concerns on behalf of the neighborhood. The architect is David Green with Lord, Aeck and Sargent. The developers are Michael Dougherty, Director of Real Estate-Retail with Opus South Corporation and Bill Bollwerk, Managing Director of Alliance Residential Company. This post summarizes what we learned at that meeting.

THE PROJECT

A. Retail & Residential. The developers are finalizing plans for a large and dense mixed residential/commercial project with ground floor retail of about 50,000 square feet and about 378,000 square feet of rental apartments above, comprised of 350 individual rental units of about 900 sq. ft. each (plus roughly 20% for hallways, lobbies, etc). The project would be built right up against Piedmont Road, with parking, service and amenities located toward the rear.

B. Parking Deck. The plans also call for a 690 car parking deck (one level below ground) allocating 1.4 spaces per rental unit and 4 parking spaces per 1000 square feet of retail space. Assuming 345 square feet per car, the parking garage will contain 238,050 square feet of space (nearly 5.5 acres of parking!). The garage appears to cover about 1.1 acres, assuming it would be a 5 level deck. (In comparison, the contentious Piedmont Park garage will have space for 800 cars.)

C. 666,050 sq. ft. Total size of the project, including the parking garage would be about 666,050 square feet.

D. 7 Stories High. While the developers didn't specifically tell us the height at that meeting, the site they showed us (which we were told was under review and subject to change) included a footprint of 56 units of about 1000 square feet each. Factoring in other assumptions stated by the developers, the total height of the project would top out at 7 stories, given that specific footprint and the amount of retail and residential space called for. Retail would occupy the ground level, with 6 levels of rental apartments located above. Keep in mind that the site plan is subject to change until it is submitted with the rezoning application, so this could change.

E. Rezoning. The developers plan to submit a rezoning application on or about September 1 asking to rezone the land under the current center from C-2 to MRC-2. At the same time, they will also submit an application to rezone a 1.5 acre plot of old-growth forest between the current center and the Windemere neighborhood from R-4 to MRC-2. This 1.5 acre wooded plot was originally planned and currently serves as an important buffer between the commercial development on Piedmont and the Windemere neighborhood.

IMPACT ON THE WINDEMERE NEIGHBORHOOD

A. Density. This project calls for a massive increase in density on a relatively small plot of land abutting one of intown Atlanta's most scenic single-family residential neighborhoods. As planned, the density would be 7 times as large as what is currently located on the part of the project within the current C-2 zoning. Their proposal to rezone the 1.5 acre old-growth forest from R-4 (single family) to MRC-2 would allow an even larger increase in density and would forever allow the destruction of the original forested buffer between the development and our neighborhood. At 58 units per acre, plus the reatail, this project would have a higher density than those built near the Lindbergh Marta station.

B. Traffic. This project will bring with it an enormous, pervasive and permanent increase in cut-through traffic on Windemere Drive and Rock Springs Road. One example: due the current location of traffic lights and the resulting back-up of traffic at the light, turning left out of the project to head south on Piedmont would be very difficult. Accordingly, residents and patrons of the project will soon discover that it is easy and quick to turn right out of the project, then right on Cheshire Bridge and right on Windemere to cut back around to Piedmont via Rock Springs. Imagine the impact 500 residents and the retail patrons will have on traffic on Windemere and Rock Springs, streets that are already overburdened with unsafe cut-through traffic.

C. Destruction of old-growth Urban Forest. As planned, the project would destroy a 1.5 acre old-growth intown urban forest seen here from the back of the current center, near the pet store loading dock:

Wildlife habitat would be destroyed and Morningside would lose forever an important amenity.

D. Air Pollution. A development with 7 times the size will also bring with it at least 7 times the traffic and 7 times the air pollution. The destruction of the forest pictured above will also allow this pollution to drift directly into our homes rather than be absorbed and mitigated by the buffer.

E. Noise. Right now, nothing up there is open at night, except for Taco Cabana. A project with 350 housing units for transients, some as high as 7 stories up in the air is bound to bring a huge increase in noise; car noise, car alarms, loud music, party sounds and noise from the panned outdoor bistros. In addition, the developers have planned to build a large swimming pool, with its accompanying drinking, parties etc. right next the the backyards of homes on Windemere. The planned clear-cutting of the forest buffer will also bring this noise within 20 feet of our backyards.

F. Crime. With 350 rental units housing 500 or so transient individuals, the project is bound to increase crime in the neighborhood, particularly if the forest buffer between the development and our neighborhood is destroyed, thereby allowing easy access to our yards from the project and from foot traffic on Piedmont and Cheshire bridge road.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

A. Build our list. At this point, we need to build our email list with as many people possible. Please send us the email of anyone you think should receive correspondence and updates about this issue. There will be many meetings to attend in the upcoming months at which we can influence the outcome of this proposal. You can contact us at morningsidematters@gmail.com.

B. Bookmark & Comments. Leave your comments to the postings on this blog. Every time you leave a comment, it stays posted here and we are emailed a copy for our records. City officials, planners, zoning officials, the developers, the architect and officers of neighborhood groups will be able to read your comments and take your ideas and opinions into consideration when making their decisions. Place this blog on your bookmark list and check back a couple times a week for new posts.

C. Send this blog to others. Please email this blog to friends, business associates, neighborhood associations, City officials, planners and anyone else who you think can help us ensure this project will have zero negative impact on our neighborhood.

In any case, while we here at MorningsideMatters are generally in favor of sensible new intown development and all for some increase in density as a way to fight sprawl, many aspects of the project as currently planned present a considerable threat to and heavily encroach on our neighborhoods. The issues surrounding traffic and the old-growth forest buffer are particularly important. We need to organize now so that we can identify and address the issues that are important to everyone on Windemere Drive and in the surrounding neighborhoods, come up with a strategy to achieve our goals and make sure the developers and city officials listen to us and do the right thing.

Thanks for your help and consideration.