Newspaper Page Text
Page 16A
LOCAL
The Champion, Thursday, Feb. 19 - 25, 2015
Chamblee begins downtown parking study
by Ashley Oglesby
ashley@dekalbchamp.com
Since the December
2013 Chamblee City Coun
cil retreat, the development
department staff has ex
pressed a need for an assess
ment of the parking prob
lems in downtown Cham
blee and suggested strategies
for addressing the issues.
In fall of 2014, the de
velopment department con
sented to survey a study area
downtown, which counted
each parking area, noting
the number parking spaces,
ownership and placement
of those spaces, and restric
tions on their use.
“We came up with a
study area and methodol
ogy about how to approach
this and since then we’ve
inventoried all the parking
spaces in the downtown area
as well as the square foot
age and I can pretty much
say yes, there is a parking
shortage in that area,” Gary
Cornell, director of devel
opment said.
He added, “There were
4,300 parking spaces in that
area and there are about 2.3
million square footage of
building space there, that 2.3
million square feet in build
ing space generates its de
mand around 4,500 parking
space. There is an immedi
ate shortage of 260 spaces.”
The department noted
the use of each building
within the study area to
gather an estimate of the
parking demand each build
ing generates which was
based on accepted parking
standards.
Cornell said the survey
did not take into account
that part of the downtown
area is vacant.
“There is a significant
problem if everything was
built to the vision that the
city has for the downtown
area,” Cornell said.
He added, “If all of
that area was occupied you
would probably have an ad
ditional demand for about
1,500 spaces.”
The data was prepared
and mapped on an aerial
photo and tax parcel data
base
Chamblee city staff com
pleted the first draft of the
document that primarily ad
dressed the scope and loca
tion of unmet parking needs
arranged in four sub-areas
of downtown that fall within
a 700 foot radius, which is
shown to be the maximum
likely walking distance for
parkers in urban areas.
The study identified a
number of issues related to
parking management in the
city, including exclusive ac
tions of owners to restrict the
supply of parking for access
to the general public; poten
tially large impacts of “build
out” of large vacant buildings
in downtown; unknown im
pact of MARTA rail access on
parking demand; and use of
downtown parking spaces for
storage of inventory for car
sales lots.
The first draft study con
cluded that constructing two
public parking lots would be
a good start to alleviating the
current deficit of 263 spaces.
The report has not yet
reached the stage of investigat
ing specific implementation
measures such as design al
ternatives, siting alternatives,
management strategies, traffic
impact, financial feasibility
and potential funding sources,
or partners for constructing
additional parking spaces.
iDowntawn Chamblee Parking Invenloi
NOTICE OF BOND ELECTION TO THE QUALIFIED VOTERS OF THE CITY OF ATLANTA
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that on Tuesday, the 17th day of March, 2015, an election will be held in the City of Atlanta (the "City"), at
which election there will be submitted to the qualified voters of the City for their determination the question of whether General Obligation Public
Improvement Bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $64,055,000 should be issued by the City for the purpose of providing funds to
pay, or to be applied or contributed toward, the costs of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, improvement, critical capital
maintenance and equipping of municipal facilities, including buildings, recreation centers and other facilities and related public improvements and the
cost of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for such facilities and improvements and other costs incidentthereto.
Each of the bonds of such bond issue, if approved by the voters, shall be dated as of the first day of the month in which the bonds are issued,
shall be in such denomination or denominations, shall bear interest from the date thereof at such rate or rates, but in no event exceeding the
maximum rate of interest of five and one-half percent (5.50%) per annum, shall provide for interest to be payable semi-annually on the first day of June
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supplemental ordinance with respect to the issuance of said bonds, and shall provide for principal to be paid on the first day of December in the
years and the amounts set forth below:
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR MUNICIPAL FACILITIES AND RELATED PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS
Year
Amount
Year
Amount
2017
$ 2,250,000
2026
$ 3,530,000
2018
2,365,000
2027
3,710,000
2019
2,485,000
2028
3,900,000
2020
2,615,000
2029
4,100,000
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2,750,000
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4,310,000
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2,890,000
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4,530,000
2023
3,035,000
2032
4,765,000
2024
3,195,000
2033
5,005,000
2025
3,355,000
2034
5,265,000
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Voters desiring to vote for the issuance of such Public Improvement Bonds shall do so by voting "YES" and voters desiring to vote against the
issuance of such Public Improvement Bonds shall do so by voting "NO" as to the question written or printed on the ballot labels with respect to the
bonds. Such question shall besubstantiallyas follows:
"SHALL GENERAL OBLIGATION PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT BONDS IN AN AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $64,055,000
BE ISSUED BY THE CITY OF ATLANTA FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYING THE COSTS OF THE ACQUISITION, CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION,
RENOVATION, REPAIR, IMPROVEMENT, CRITICAL CAPITAL MAINTENANCE AND EQUIPPING OF MUNICIPAL FACILITIES, INCLUDING BUILDINGS,
RECREATION CENTERS AND OTHER FACILITIES AND RELATED PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS AND THE COST OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE AMERICANS
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may cast his or her vote in either the affirmative or the negative as to the question propounded.
The several places for holding the election shall be the regular and established polling places for holding elections in each precinct in the City. Each
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This notice is given pursuant to the authority of a resolution adopted by the Council of the City of Atlanta.
CITY OF ATLANTA
Rhonda Dauphin Johnson
Municipal Clerk