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CHAMBLEE AND DORAVILLE, GEORGIA
Fig. 41–43
Speaker 3 Just outside DeKalb County’s Atlanta border, along the proposed high-speed rail line between Atlanta and Charlotte and with commuter rail stations heading into Atlanta, are two small municipalities: Chamblee and Doraville, Georgia. They are adjacent towns with adjacent plans for new development. We have singled out these two municipalities not only for their projected growth, their connection to Atlanta, and their place within the larger regional plan, but for a specific development site important to the story of the changing American suburb: a closed General Motors plant in Doraville.29 Despite the manufacturing jobs lost with the closing of the plant, Chamblee and Doraville have experienced rapid growth since 2000. Between 2000 and 2008, DeKalb County’s population grew 15 percent. During the same period, Doraville saw a 10 percent increase in the number of housing units, while Chamblee saw an enormous 30 percent increase in the number of units.