The following is an update from Dunwoody City Councilman Denis Shortal.
Fellow Citizens ... The following are a few update items of interest in Dunwoody:
1. City Meetings ... There are several meetings of interest in the next few weeks. Your source to keep informed is our Dunwoody website .... dunwoodyga.gov. On the left side of the Home Page under "Residents" click on "Calendar" and the calendar for the month of FEB will appear. Then click on the meeting of your interest (that is probably all the meetings) and when the meeting page appears click on the date of the meeting (in blue) and the agenda will appear. All meeting are at the City Hall. At the City Council meeting of tomorrow night two items of interest are the Special Land Use Plan (SLUP) for All Saints Church and the reappointment of two members to the Dunwoody Ethics Board. On Tuesday, 9 FEB, the Planning Commission meets @ 7 PM.
An item of interest here is whether or not to allow "back yard chickens" in Dunwoody. On Th, 11 FEB , the Sustainability Commission meets @ 7:45 AM and items of interest are allowing motorized carts in Dunwoody among other items. At 7 PM that night the Community Council meets and they will be discussing the "codification process" for our City in Ch 21 & 27 of our Ordinance. At the City Council meeting of 22 FEB there will be a briefing by the folks from PDK Airport on the proposal to lower the altitudes of the Class "B" airspace in our area by the FAA. This can have an effect on the residents of Dunwoody. We will need to stay informed on this issue.
An item of interest here is whether or not to allow "back yard chickens" in Dunwoody. On Th, 11 FEB , the Sustainability Commission meets @ 7:45 AM and items of interest are allowing motorized carts in Dunwoody among other items. At 7 PM that night the Community Council meets and they will be discussing the "codification process" for our City in Ch 21 & 27 of our Ordinance. At the City Council meeting of 22 FEB there will be a briefing by the folks from PDK Airport on the proposal to lower the altitudes of the Class "B" airspace in our area by the FAA. This can have an effect on the residents of Dunwoody. We will need to stay informed on this issue.
2. First State of the City Address ... My thanks to everyone who came to our State of the City address/meeting on 28 JAN ... it was a packed house. It was a good time and informative both looking back at the past year and, looking forward. If you missed it this year make plans to put it on your calendar for next year. FYI, it was paid for by private funds.
3. Bike Trails ... We are in the initial stages of setting up two or three bike trails around the city. We will initially be using existing streets in their current design but will be installing "bike trail" signs and other devises to alert motorist to share the road with bike riders. The trails will be aimed at the recreational/family bike riders. This is being done in our effort to make Dunwoody a more bike / pedestrian friendly city. There will be public hearing on this issue as time goes by. Our goal is to have some of this done by this summer. As always, your input is solicited.
4. Dunwoody Volunteer Coordination Committee (DVCC) ... The DVCC has done a lot of work around our City that has enhanced all of our lives.
Community service builds community spirit and makes our City a better, cleaner and more desirable place to live, work and play. We need everyone to pitch in to make this a reality. We would like to see a cast of thousands of citizens join the effort by signing up for the DVCC. Yes, a lot of the work in rolling up your sleeves and doing manual tasks that all of us are capable of doing. Individuals and community/church groups from across our City are joining .... all we need is you to join the effort. We all want our City to be a special place and it is going to take all of us working together to make that happen. You can join by contacting Bill Tobin @ williamtobin@comcast.net or go to our website … dunwoodyga.gov ... and join there. Some examples of things that are going on.... for the second year North Atlanta Church of Christ is sponsoring a work day on
6 NOV (last year they had over 300 workers out doing various tasks), Jewish Community Center is going to pick up the trash along Tilly Mill Rd, All Saints Catholic Church, Dunwoody Baptist Church, Dunwoody United Methodist Church among others are joining the effort. Your City needs you and needs you now!
Community service builds community spirit and makes our City a better, cleaner and more desirable place to live, work and play. We need everyone to pitch in to make this a reality. We would like to see a cast of thousands of citizens join the effort by signing up for the DVCC. Yes, a lot of the work in rolling up your sleeves and doing manual tasks that all of us are capable of doing. Individuals and community/church groups from across our City are joining .... all we need is you to join the effort. We all want our City to be a special place and it is going to take all of us working together to make that happen. You can join by contacting Bill Tobin @ williamtobin@comcast.net or go to our website … dunwoodyga.gov ... and join there. Some examples of things that are going on.... for the second year North Atlanta Church of Christ is sponsoring a work day on
6 NOV (last year they had over 300 workers out doing various tasks), Jewish Community Center is going to pick up the trash along Tilly Mill Rd, All Saints Catholic Church, Dunwoody Baptist Church, Dunwoody United Methodist Church among others are joining the effort. Your City needs you and needs you now!
5. Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) ... Our Vendor, Pond and Company, our CLUP Steering Committee and our staff are working on the rough draft of the CLUP. Rest assured there will be plenty of opportunities for vetting and inputs into the CLUP before it becomes a finished product. In addition to process noted above, the CLUP must go thru the Community Council, the Planning Commission and finally the City Council which includes a public hearing. I would estimate a summer time frame for completion. Remember the CLUP is a legal document that will set the general guidelines of what we want our city to look like going forward.
6. Retreat .... As you probably know the City Council retreat to Franklin, TN was cancelled last weekend due to weather. The retreat was moved to the Embassy Suites here in Dunwoody and was held on last Sunday. It was one of those marathon meeting that started at 0800 and ended at 10 PM. IMO, it was a very productive day. The trip to Franklin will take place at later date. Why Franklin, TN .... because in several publications it is rated as one of the top places to live in the United States. In other words, it is a very successful city. It also mirrors Dunwoody in several aspects ... close to a big city, population, education level, income levels, etc.
7. Fixing Our Roads .... One of the 22 agenda items we discussed at the retreat was a long term plan to fix our roads. We all know the condition of the roads and every road in Dunw
oody has been electronically rated. You can go on our website and find the rating of your road/street. The rating system is from 0 to 100 where 0 is the worst and 100 would be a new road. Overall our road's average rating was approx. 68. The ample rain fall we have had is good news for the drought but combined with the hard freeze the rain has taken an extra hard toll on our roads. When we campaign for city hood we were very candied that, due to the deterioration and the need for massive patch work on our roads, there would be little or no funds for paving in the first two years. However, we do have a limited amount of paving funds in the budget this year and if we prevail in the HOST suit vs the County (this suit is current in the Ga Supreme Court with a ruling expect by late spring or early summer) we will have additional funds for paving. FYI, HOST funds can only be used for capital projects. The general plan for paving is to spend a large percentage on paving our main roads that are in the worst condition, spending a certain percentage of the funds paving neighborhood roads that are in the worst condition while saving some funds for strip/large patching to keep other roads in usable condition. Due to the lack of maintenance and the deterioration of our roads ... paving is going to be a long term/several year project. Simply put, it is going to take several years to bring all our roads to the level that we want. The good news is we will have a plan and we will be making progress .... something that hasn't been done in the 23 years that I have lived in Dunwoody.
On a side note, we have secure a grant to redo Dunwoody Village Parkway from Chamblee Dunwoody Road to Mt Vernon Rd. Although still in the planning stage the basic objective is to redo the road and add a path for pedestrians and bikes. The timelines that we are projecting is to start in 2011 with a 2012 completion date.
oody has been electronically rated. You can go on our website and find the rating of your road/street. The rating system is from 0 to 100 where 0 is the worst and 100 would be a new road. Overall our road's average rating was approx. 68. The ample rain fall we have had is good news for the drought but combined with the hard freeze the rain has taken an extra hard toll on our roads. When we campaign for city hood we were very candied that, due to the deterioration and the need for massive patch work on our roads, there would be little or no funds for paving in the first two years. However, we do have a limited amount of paving funds in the budget this year and if we prevail in the HOST suit vs the County (this suit is current in the Ga Supreme Court with a ruling expect by late spring or early summer) we will have additional funds for paving. FYI, HOST funds can only be used for capital projects. The general plan for paving is to spend a large percentage on paving our main roads that are in the worst condition, spending a certain percentage of the funds paving neighborhood roads that are in the worst condition while saving some funds for strip/large patching to keep other roads in usable condition. Due to the lack of maintenance and the deterioration of our roads ... paving is going to be a long term/several year project. Simply put, it is going to take several years to bring all our roads to the level that we want. The good news is we will have a plan and we will be making progress .... something that hasn't been done in the 23 years that I have lived in Dunwoody.On a side note, we have secure a grant to redo Dunwoody Village Parkway from Chamblee Dunwoody Road to Mt Vernon Rd. Although still in the planning stage the basic objective is to redo the road and add a path for pedestrians and bikes. The timelines that we are projecting is to start in 2011 with a 2012 completion date.
8. One Last Item .... I know all of you have plenty of competition for your charity dollars. I would ask you to consider sponsoring myself or one of our police officers who are on the Dunwoody Police Team to raise funds for the GA Special Olympics. We are doing this by participating in "The Polar Plunge" at Lake Lanier on 20 FEB .... that is 13 days from now (please pray for warmer weather). FYI, 100% of the funds collected will go to GA Special Olympics. Individual, group and corporate donations are welcome. You can donate by going to www.firstgiving.com/denisshortal
or substitute any of the participating Dunwoody Police Officer's name for my name to sponsor them or by sending a check, made out to GA Special Olympics, to me at 1326 Wyntercreek Lane, Dunwoody, GA 30338.
Please note who you want to sponsor. I will ensure the checks are turned in. Our thanks to all of those of you who have already contributed.
or substitute any of the participating Dunwoody Police Officer's name for my name to sponsor them or by sending a check, made out to GA Special Olympics, to me at 1326 Wyntercreek Lane, Dunwoody, GA 30338.
Please note who you want to sponsor. I will ensure the checks are turned in. Our thanks to all of those of you who have already contributed.
9. That all for now as it is way past my bed time. Thanks for your continued interest, involvement and support of our City. Please pass this on to any of your friends and neighbors that may find this update of interest. If anyone wants to be added to my email list just let me
know. Let Us Continue To Build Our City Together!
know. Let Us Continue To Build Our City Together!
Denny Shortal,
City Councilman, District One, Post-1, Mayor Pro Tem.
City Councilman, District One, Post-1, Mayor Pro Tem.
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1 comment:
Councilman Shortal:
It's becoming more and more apparent that while you all talk about the size of the road problem, you haven't the faintest idea of how you're going to fund this amount of expenditure.
As a Council, you elected to fund the Dunwoody Police at 2X your original estimate, and this growth came at the expense of the money we would have had for paving.
Host money not withstanding, how do you intend to manage acquiring Brook Run and the other parks, plus fund road repair.
Please, no soothing words or platitudes....I'd like to hear some project commitments!! Sandy Springs figured out a way to put Public Projects on a list and publishes that. When will Dunwoody do the same??
Chip
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