Historic Conley Hills Neighborhood Association

Feb 2005 Meeting Minutes

Mar 01, 2005

Historic Conley Hills ?– Neighborhood Meeting Minutes
Feb 10, 2005

Meeting Agenda:
1. Presentation by Rakes & Hoes garden club
2. Neighborhood crime statistics from the EP Police
3. Real estate values report
4. Montessori School property rezoning presentation and n?’hood vote
5. Discussion: OUR vision for the future of Conley Hills N?’hood
6. Neighborhood Assoc. business
o Call for volunteers: block representatives
o Discussion: Implementation of bylaws

Some of the Attendees:
Barbara Collins
Bill Kenyon
Craig Jeffares
E Saunders EP FD
J Cassell, EP FD
FA Boyce, EP FD
E Castleberry, EP FD
Leigh Barrett
Brian Burnett
Sylvia and Bill Nichols
Chris
Dennis
Teresa
Keri and Chris Bulloch
Michelle (pink house at corner of Linwood and Semmes)
Jim Ellis____
Corporal Slaughter, EP PD
Rick Westbrook
John Jeffries
Tal
Frieda
Millard Patton
Aida and Bill Kenyon
Isabel and Craig Jeffares
And many more?…


1) Rake's and Hoe's, Teresa Harrison,

Garden club is open to everyone - children, young, old, novice to master gardeners
Open to everyone inside and outside the city
Their focus is to have fun
They have several projects - islands on white way, planters
They are nonpolitical
Want to beautiful and dedicate the Island at Linwood and Pearl to Ethel Quinby, longtime resident and volunteer.
Suggestions to us:
1) create a beautification committee to keep island beautiful
2) Come up with a layout/design
3) call the r&hs once you decide - they will set it up
Nhood assoc. maintains the island
Not an expensive project
Chickens are gone from that corner ?– they shouldn?’t eat any plants we plant.
That island does eed to be somewhat childproofed
Millard Patton can provide us with free mulch
Please join their club!


Crime statistics
Corp. Slaughter
bridge to community from ep
contact ms. jeffares and kenyon for small issues
1 burglary per month
2 code enforcement violations
1 brush fire
Millard Patton - Monday - two of his vehicles had been ransacked in his driveway
Lock your vehicles
If you see anyone is suspicious, police to say hello to them, come to your house.
Craig Jeffares - What do we do with your assistance in setting up a neighborhood watch program?
Everyone is interested.
House on Jones that was broken into.
Dorsey - stolen truck dropped off on Dorsey and another vehicle taken.
Steps:
Get names of people in your neighborhood watch.
Get signs for us.
Do our own patrolling car.
Citizens on patrol car that we can use. There is a class they teach. There might be radios we could use.
Leut. Gibson - 404.765-1164.
Sept-Oct 2004 timeframe there were alot of stolen cars. No updates on stolen cars, houses, but he doesn't know about it and he's in charge of traffic.
Marta buses are not stopping.
Suspect has been found. body on Montessori school property. Leut. Israel. is the officer on the case. Roommates who had an altercation. Stabbed in the residence and took him down there.

Real Estate Values Report
Joan Macaluso,
report given...
Avg. days on market



Fire Dept Services
Car seat program just started.
Give you a free car seat
Free smoke detector installed.
Call the main office.
Fire marshal program - they will train you in CPR and you get a CPR certification/card.
Items on city council table - new station. Fire station is not built. They need to find a builder.

Marketplace needs a new fire station. They have that but no trucks and people. ladder truck and engine.
let your councilman know that.
Hazards truck - they received grant for that.
Injured fireman in this last fire - floor collapsed and they fell. One guy is back to recovery and one will have surgery but overall they are fine.
404765-1120 - ask Joan, their secretary.
Still doing weekly rounds at Montessori school property.
All fireman are also EMT - only three trucks between college park and ep.


2715 Cheney Street - Montessori school property
Andrew Gurvey

Zones R1
Allows for standard lots 7500 sq ft lots
30 homes on that property
rezoning to a TRN - residential nhood typical of closer to main street
Conditions because of the type of development
they are asking for allowance of townhouses
single family attached dwellings
variances of height restrictions, and size of lots
health dept, GA EPA, fire dept.
plethora of problems
lots of potential
opportunity for community as a whole
infrastructure problems
creek was piped in
pipe has failed over time
cascading effect is creeping up towards main street
pot holes - erosions - infrastructure is failing
"jewel of east point"
bring people into the city
in line with Atl regional commission to bring viable residences around hubs to fight urban sprawl
new levels of home ownership
owning property - not renting out
discourage land lording
$250K house
live here, shop here
start cascading effect of growth that is absent in downtown area.
east point is just developing on the outer core
it's happening slowly but downtown it is spotty
there is a need for housing
ep has alot to offer
property plan/visual
not displacing anyone
single family residences
no higher than existing residences on Cheney - will not appear to be higher because they are in a hole
bungalow-style homes
front-loading garages
taking townhouse idea - matching for volume and mass
Attention to environment
address storm water problems
restoration of farley creek - tiered retention facilities to handle overflow
taking over repair work from city at Semmes
not a completely solution to the water problems but helping some of the volume problems
LCI - traditional living center is a match to the TRN. Traditional residential neighborhood.
Homes that blend in with the area. Porches, roof with slopes and gables, etc. Different arch. styles common with this area.
No intention of clear cutting
Building green spaces
Do tree survey, geotechnical engineering reports, will be done.

Questions/Forum
Concern about density - road is opened up to Montrose all the way to Cleveland.
Townhouses facing inside? they are open to shift things and match mass and density to what is around.
Core is single family attached in the middle.
17 single family homes
35 town homes
52 units
density 8 units per acre which is less than another development.

What are the price ranges of units?
Houses - starting at $175K
Single family detached starting at $250K

What are you going to be looking to the city for as far as incentives?
Are you looking for a TAD - NO
Infrastructure from city other than electric, water? What are you going to provide?
Storm water and retention areas - infrastructure problems. sewer lines are breached and storm lines are breached. don't know how bad that is.
Allocated a bit of their budget for that.

You are looking for minimal financial support?
They are looking to increase the tax base.

If you were requested to reduce the density?
Up for discussion. Depends on what extent. Looking to build 30 homes and not being able to handle the infrastructure issues.
$497K for one storm water pipe.

What variances are in your application?
reduction from townhouses
not around perimeter
3 stories instead of 2.5
front loading garages as opposed to rear loading
non public right of ways.
Has asked for that the overlay being extended to Semmes.

How many town homes on Semmes?
550 ft - up for discussion
This is a process.

3 story town homes on Semmes?

Townhouses on Semmes and Cheney? why?
As a reflection of what was there. They are major thoroughfares.
Single family attached homes.
Vertical residences.
Concerned voiced about the houses across the street. - townhouses across the street from single family, large lots. Pictures circulated.

Are you going to ask city for CIP money's to fix infrastructure?
No idea. Has not seen it. Has asked for it. All up for discussion if they are involved or not involved. They are not counting on it.

Your firm asked the city to partner with them on this development - true?
Yes. Some discussion about joint development. No formal participation structure available.

What other developments have you done? What is your history?
Real estate closing attorney.
Attorney for District Attorney.
Social worker in Cobb County

Alan Solon - marketing and advertising Marketing programs for financial institutions.
Downtown Decatur, Inman village, mountaintop resorts in north Georgia.

Are you going to do marketing and advertising for this development?
Visionary for this project.
Don't have the building experience beyond on hands. His partners do. He falls back to their expertise.
They have the ability to do it.

Do you know how much it's going to cost?
We have budgeted for what they think.

We need to have people to fill up our restaurants. Millard likes it.
Better than the city spending money on demolishing it.

What exterior finishes will you use?
Siding, brick, stone, traditional materials.

Is this a clear-cut property once development starts?
No - not his opinion that that should happen.
Depends on final site plan.
School is the first thing to come out.
They don't want to cut trees that would help sell homes.

What are the estimated infrastructure costs?
Speculative based on infrastructure. Million dollars for site - for infrastructure. Dealing with the storm water, elements of the site.

Are you considering single family, detached homes along Semmes?
All open.

Timeline on construction?
Depends on what we find on site and how engineers are working to deal with that. They have been looking for alternatives.
Piecemeal?
Don't know. Building some model units outside and them within.

Identify your architects and engineers?
Builders: holding off on partnering. Many builders have in-house architects and they have engineers.

Has an engineer looked at the property?
An environmental engineer has been providing preliminary data.

What is Plan B?
Different layouts/configurations of the property. The one he is presenting is the best configuration considering all the issues with the property.

What else is the LCI recommending for the space?
Engineering firm that produced the LCI report, silent about this site. No mention of the site. LCI indicated this is what the focus and intent of the LCI is.

EPA issues - how does this effect with what the city has gone through with EPA? Are we still subject to the fines.
Teresa: Can't answer our question. We have to do with what they said. We have to start something in June 2005.

What is our rating to get the bond? A $52 million bond is what is required.
We are not rated. We are too small to be rated.

Teresa: we have to make the system to pay for itself.
We will see an increase in our water and sewer bill. Rates will be going up in March.
We have not funded anything yet. There' is no $52 million dollars right now.
Looking into private grant money.

We can get grant money for some of this denser development - what's the storey?
Not aware of that. Within the LCI there is are monies available.
East Point hasn't officially signed onto the LCI.

LCI wants to create a green corridor - so that particular site is in line with LCI vision.
This site is not a make or break for the LCI for the city.

Is the city going to wait to fix Semmes until all the infrastructure.
Semmes is top priority to be fixed once CIP goes through.
Teresa: the city cannot wait. We will be fined $200 per day to not be in compliance by the EPA. June 1, 2005 is the first deadline.

$52million - $16 million will not stay in EP. will be paid to city of Atlanta to upgrades to the sewer system - to the EP facility in conjunction with them. City should have paid for it years ago. There is no paper trail of who owes who what, when.

Can you assure us Ms. Nelson and Mr. Gurvey, Can you assure us that you won't use the same group who screwed up Semmes in the first place?
...

They want to hand it back over to the city for long term maintenance.
Alan Solon - there is no guarantee that we will be able to build this. Before they spend a couple of thousand dollars, they asked for rezoning request to make it feasible to look. If there is a favorable rezoning request, there is no guarantee. There might be more serious issues than they can privately handle. They are not going to have a project that starts half way and then gets abandoned. Either it is feasible or not.

The problem you run into - if you get our approval tonight you are done with us. It is premature to come before us. We do not take this lightly.

Gurvey - there will be lots of approvals to go through.

Teresa Nelson: There will be a number approvals before it can go through. Intense scrutiny through public works.

What sort of assurances can you give us about if your plan changes once you rezoned?
They are asking for a different type of housing that the current housing regulations allow for. They are asking for the rezoning for the flexibility to shift that makes sense to the land.

It's the flexibility we are concerned about. They are working within guidelines and control of TRN. We should go to city council that TRN guidelines are going to be followed to the letter.

Gurvey: We are going on the assumption that there is nothing there to salvage - no pipes are worth keeping.

Resident: She is looking forward to some positive change.

If it is rezoned, they can purchase the property. If they can't do anything. That's their risk and they are stuck.
They re looking to remove the building as part of their first step.

Our neighborhood is special because no two homes are exactly alike. Do they plan to use a variety.
They do plan for variety in floor plans.

How did the other groups vote?
Main Street Board - voted FOR with provisions.
Frog Hollow nhood - voted Against project as it stands.
Church Street nhood - didn?’t vote.

Map is confusing - where is Montrose

Before nhood can decide let's see the alternative before we can vote.

6 opposed
8 supporting w/ conditions

Email Mr. Gurvey with any more questions/comments/feedback.