Decision Deferred

The MLPA Zoning Committee decided at last night's meeting to defer consideration of the Opus rezoning proposal until the January 8 meeting to give the developers and neighbors more time to work out a negotiated solution.

During or immediately after the meeting, the development team made the following additional concessions:

1. They would consider dropping the parking deck from 4 to 3 stories.

2. They will pay for all traffic improvements identified as necessary in the final DRI report over and above what the dedicated impact fees cover.

3. They would drop the overall retail square footage from 60,000 sq. ft. back down to the original 50,000 sq. ft.

4. They will agree to limits on individual retail and restaurant square footage in line with the original requests from the neighborhood.

5. They will agree to a permanent conservation easement for the R-4 portion of the parcel to preserve it forever as forested green space.

Please plan now to attend the next meeting of the MLPA Zoning Committee on Tuesday, January 8, at 7:30 pm at Morningside Presbyterian Church.

MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT !!

Please plan to attend the Morningside Lenox Park Association Zoning Committee meeting tomorrow night (Tuesday, December 4th) at 7:30 pm at Morningside Presbyterian Church, 1411 N. Morningside Drive.

The Opus/Morningside project in its current form and its resulting impact on the Morningside neighborhood will be discussed and it is important for as many neighbors as possible to attend, ask questions and voice opinions.

From here on out, things will be moving rather quickly as the developers' rezoning proposal moves forward, so don't miss this opportunity to participate.

We look forward to seeing all of you there.

Atlanta Regional Commission Final Report

The Atlanta Regional Commission has issued its final report on the Opus/Morningside project, and you can go to this webpage to find links to download the DRI Traffic Study and the ARC final report.

Major points contained in the ARC Final Report are as follows:

1. The existing forested buffer between the development and the Morningside Neighborhood should be maintained.

2. The value of the development is $70,000,000 and will generate $837,000 a year in local tax revenue.

3. The development will generate 4,452 new two-way traffic trips each day.

4. The development does NOT pass the ARC's benchmark air quality test.

5. The current transportation system is not "fully capable" of accommodating the new trips generated by the development and improvments should be implemented.

New Plans

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Over the past couple of months, a small group of neighborhood residents and representatives from NPU-F and the MLPA have been meeting with the Opus/Morningside Project developers to try to convince them to craft a plan that current residents could live with.

The images above are of the latest plan, which will be presented to the MLPA Zoning Committee tomorrow night. The important changes from previous plans are as follows:

1. No building or activity in the forested portion of the R-4 zoned area.

2. Density reduced from 360 units to 300 units.

3. Parking deck reduced from 5 to 4 stories.