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Dunwoody Reporter
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Kids will, over gross stuff ROBIN’S NEST 7
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Officers OK with body cameras PUBLIC SAFETY 21
MAY 15 — MAY 28, 2015 • VOL. 6 — NO. 10
MAKING A DIFFERENCE 8-9
Public showing support for Winters Chapel streetscape project
Apple of her eye
BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
PHIL MOSIER
Dunwoody resident Emily Mayberry, right, shares a smile with her daughter Ellie, 9 months, at the Food Truck Thursday event at Brook Run Park on May 7. See additional photo on page 2.
Frustration builds over Mount Vernon construction BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
Gaytha Burg directs traffic along the 1800 block of Mount Vernon Road in Dunwoody, taking in the comments from motorists. “You have no idea what you’re doing,” one man yells out his open window. On an 83-degree day, Burg keeps her cool, mumbling something about traffic having to stop so the truck can move the pipe. DeKalb County is in the process of replacing a water main along Mount Vernon, but the construction and road delays don’t stop there. As soon as the county finishes its work, the city plans to start paving. But Dunwoody drivers aren’t the only ones who might want to seriously consider alternate routes to Mount Vernon Road for the duration of the summer. On April 13,
Sandy Springs closed the busy intersection of Mount Vernon Road at Spalding for a re-alignment project. According to the city’s website, work includes major demolition, grading, storm drainage and underground utilities; construction of the new roadway at the intersection; and installation of a traffic signal system. Sandy Springs resident David Searles wrote Mayor Rusty Paul to say the road closure “created a traffic nightmare.” “This intersection ‘improvement’ is a boondoggle,” Searles wrote. “It is a waste of money that only benefits Gwinnett County commuters who cut through our subdivisions.”
There were 200-plus residents in the room. They were asked, “How many people are happy with the way the Winters Chapel area looks?” Not one hand went up. “Right now Winters Chapel has no aesthetic value,” Dunwoody City Councilman Doug Thompson said after describing the neighborhood meeting in February at Winters Chapel United Methodist Church. The area can become a vital part of both Dunwoody and Peachtree Corners, but it needs more “love and care,” said Debbie Fuse, who lives in the Winters Chapel area and has been pushing the idea of revitalizing the area for years. A recently completed area study that both cities approved is a “streetscape project,” which Thompson said meant it includes all the aesthetic elements of the street view design. “Sidewalks to pocket parks, trees, benches, trash cans, streetlights…it covers that aspect of it,” he said. “That’s one project that the public’s really behind,” Thompson said. But the area study is a just first step, and now a plan for future economic growth needs to be put in place to generate income for the area as a whole, which would affect not only Dunwoody and Peachtree Corners but also in Doraville, Chamblee and Sandy Springs. “The way I look at it, as they redevelop the GM plant location, the entire surrounding cities will see changes and opportunities for growth and a positive economic impact, if we plan for that now,” Fuse said. SEE PUBLIC, PAGE 4
SEE MOUNT VERNON, PAGE 5
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