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July 28 - Aug. 3, 2016 • Page 2A
Developers revise plans for Dresden Village proposal
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Two developers have made
changes to a proposed Brookhaven
development after meetings with the
public.
Connolly and Fairfield
Residential released revised plans
for the Dresden Village proposal—a
mixed-use development on Dresden
Drive, between Caldwell Road
and Parkside Drive. Brian Fratesi
of Connolly said July 7 that the
amended proposal was submitted to
the city.
“The slide show details the
evolution of the project, which
resulted from collective efforts of
our team and a group of dedicated
neighborhood advocates that met on
numerous occasions to help shape
this project, which is designed to
be consistent with the Brookhaven-
Peachtree Overlay District and
the surrounding uses and to be in
keeping with the character of the
neighborhood,” Fratesi said.
The original plan included 20,000
Developers have made changes to the proposed Dresden Village
square feet of boutique shops
and local restaurants with outside
patios managed by local operators,
pedestrian friendly streetscapes
with wide sidewalks and interesting
storefronts, 206 luxury multi-family
apartment homes and approximately
200 parking spaces for retail
customers and the general public.
The revised plan features:
• Four stories on Dresden and
three stories facing Caldwell
Road;
Reduced the number of
balconies;
Reduced total number of units
from 206 to 194, which reduces
density from 60 units per acre to
56.6;
Access on Caldwell was changed
from full retail/residential access
to be residential;
Developer will contribute $20,000
to the city of Brookhaven to
facilitate traffic improvements;
Relocated trash, deliveries and
loading/unloading;
Added more than a half-acre of
public green open space;
• Designated two parallel parking
spaces on Dresden for Uber/taxi
(or other transportation drop-off
and pick-up);
• Developer will contribute $5,000
to the Ashford Park Community
for improvements at Parkside
Park;
•And development will have more
than 140 publicly accessible paid
parking spaces.
The changes come shortly after
some residents along Dresden Road
started a petition for Brookhaven to
do smart development in response to
the redevelopment along Dresden.
Developers said Dresden Village
will complete the pedestrian-friendly
retail and restaurant experience
along Dresden, connecting
Brookhaven Village to the proposed
Brookhaven MARTA redevelopment
project. They also said the proposed
development will adhere to the city’s
tree ordinance regulations by saving
canopy and specimen trees.
DeKalb schools reluctantly partner with Dunbar
Higher standards
requested from armored
car service company
by R. Scott Belzer
sbelzer@dekalbchamp.com
On July 11, DeKalb County School District
(DCSD) awarded a $290,000 contract to Dunbar,
an armored car service characterized as having
“challenges,” involving inaccurate money counts
and forgotten pickups.
The $290,000 will be taken from DCSD’s
general fund account ($170,000) and school
nutrition account ($120,000).
Michael Bell, chief financial officer for DCSD,
said the contract was awarded due to a lack
of parity in Atlanta regarding the armored car
business.
“In our area, there are maybe three companies
who provide these services,” Bell said. “We had
one vendor respond to our solicitation, the same
one we have now: Dunbar.”
Dunbar was established in England in 1923
and is self-described as the country’s leading
armored car service provider. Other companies in
Atlanta include Loomis and Brink’s.
Bell said Dunbar’s ability to handle large scale
projects allows the company to work with most
metro Atlanta school districts. Specific duties in
DeKalb County include daily cash pickups at 20
middle schools and 22 high schools, bi-weekly
pickups at 78 elementary schools and 11 weekly
pickups at “special entity locations,” according to
the contract.
“Each DCSD school location maintains a
depository account for local school activity funds
and a depository account for the school nutrition
Dunbar is one of three armored car companies in the
metro Atlanta region.
program funds,” the contract states.
In addition, armored car services are expected
to make pickups during football season—12
weeks—at five DeKalb County stadiums
immediately after each Friday and Saturday night
game.
Bell said there have been issues with Dunbar
in the past involving accuracy of money counts,
not showing up for scheduled pickups and not
assigning counting duties to employees. Because
of these issues, the awarded contract—lasting
one year—contains detailed expectations to “hold
the company to a higher standard.”
“In [Dunbar’s] defense, they had some issues
they asserted about being notified as to when
certain pickups were supposed to take place,”
Bell said. “Missed pickups cause funds to be put
in a safe for a period of time, which is not the
safest thing.”
Bell said numerous meetings have
taken place between school officials and
representatives from Dunbar, eventually leading
to a “cure letter” or “cure notice.” Cure letters notify
DCSD’s chief financial officer, Michael Bell, presented
a new contract with Dunbar on July 11 despite
acknowledging “issues” and “challenges” with the
company.
companies—typically employed by a government
agency—that their performance is endangering the
terms of a contract.
“[Dunbar] sent down a higher management
representative from the northeast,” Bell said. “This
individual spent some time with people here. We’ve
detected some improvement in service and we
don’t want them to fall back in their performance.”
Bell said the new contract will assure
benchmarks and standards are being met. If such
standards are not met, according to Bell, the district
will have the option of canceling the contract.
“But we have a responsibility to the school
district to ensure this type of service is in place,”
Bell said. “We’ve gone through one cure letter
process and management did pay attention.”
Board member Joyce Morley advocated
rebidding the contract in one year.
“To me, mediocrity just has no place,” Morley
said. “We’re talking about money and missed
pickups and no calculating why—something is
wrong with that.”
