February 2019 - Dunwoody Reporters

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reporternewspapers.net

FEBRUARY 2019 • VOL. 10 — NO. 2

Dunwoody Reporter ROBIN’S NEST

Dad jokes? They just don’t age well P15

Perimeter Business

Mall parking lots become prime real estate

SPECIAL AD SECTION ■ PAGES 24-26

PAGES 5-9

Fear rises as GDOT eyes back yards, houses for toll lanes BY JOHN RUCH, DYANA BAGBY AND EVELYN ANDREWS

AROUND TOWN

From Y soccer fields to the World Cup P16 COMMUNITY

Experts: I-285 bus transit will work P18

Reporter Extra Podcast & Live Stream

HEAR OUR PODCASTS Interviews with newsmakers and community news updates IN FEBRUARY ► Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst ► Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell

COMING SOON ► Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul ► Dunwoody Mayor Denis Shortal Go to ReporterNewspapers.net or ‘like’ our Facebook Page for our next podcasts

DYANA BAGBY

Dunwoody resident Bob Wolford stands in a narrow Georgia Department of Transportation right of way in the Georgetown neighborhood that could be consumed by the new toll lanes. He is among the residents worried about possible land-taking and noise impacts to homes and community facilities.

Retail recommended for self-storage project; developer says no thanks BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

Planning Commission members want people renting a unit at a proposed self-storage building in the Georgetown community to be able to buy a croissant and a cup of cof-

fee or visit with a tax specialist in the same building. The developer, however, said there is no chance of that happening. The situation of a developer securing a recommendation for approval that includes conditions it doesn’t want stems from the See RETAIL on page 17

As the Georgia Department of Transportation moves ahead on plans for a new system of toll lanes along Ga. 400 and I-285, frustration and fear are rising among residents concerned about a different toll – the one on their homes and back yards for possible land-taking. At three community meetings in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs in January, GDOT officials disappointed residents by claiming it’s too soon to know property impacts of the lanes, which could require widening the highways and which may rise over 30 feet high. In a backlash to those meetings, several homeowners reported that GDOT is studying or making offers for land-taking in their yards. And it was revealed that among the options under GDOT consideration is demolishing eight homes on Sandy Springs’ Crestline Parkway for an interchange and tearing down part of a Dunwoody townhouse while leaving the rest standing. “I really do believe this is being done way too quickly, and they’re not being transparent… like saying they have no plans in place when they obviously do,” said Amanda Cusick, a resident of Sandy Springs’ Montrose Lane, who shared a detailed land-taking plan for her street. GDOT’s “express lanes” or “managed lanes” project would add four new toll-only lanes along I-285 and Ga. 400 in the Perimeter Center area over the next decade, with the intent of improving overall traffic flow. The Ga. 400 lanes also would carry a new MARTA bus rapid transit route, which requires other access points and stations. GDOT has repeatedly refused to fulfill open records requests from the Reporter for proposed property-taking information, citing varying and sometimes contradictory grounds, some of which an attorney on the board of the Georgia First Amendment See FEAR on page 19

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