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for over 30 Years
800 Miami Circle, Atlanta, Georgia 30324
404-261-7519 • www.sweetrepeatsatlanta.com
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under Crossroads Village Shopping Center
(at the intersection of Buford Highway and Clairmont Road)
3979 Buford Hwy NE, Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
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| APRIL5 —APRIL 18, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
NPU backs exemption to
let wine shop open
BY CHUCK STANLEY
Buckhead’s NPU-B has offered pre
liminary support for a change to restric
tions on sales of packaged beer and wine
along Peachtree Road and Peachtree
Street.
The proposed exemption to the dis
tance requirements between single fam
ily neighborhoods and beer and wine
retailers would apply only to shopping
centers with more than 75,000-square
feet of retail space and frontage on
Peachtree Street or Peachtree Road. Re
strictions on liquor sales would not be
changed.
The move would most immediate
ly have an effect on Buckhead Square
Shopping Center at Piedmont and
Peachtree roads, where a wine merchant
is currently blocked from taking over
the space formerly occupied by the Con
tainer Store.
The proposed change to the alcohol
licensing ordinance is still in the con
ceptual phase. The proposal must be
officially filed by Atlanta City Coun
cil before being brought back before
Peachtree Place residents and NPU-B
for another vote.
Attorney Kevin Leffi who has peti
tioned exemptions to the ordinance for
a number of retailers and supermarkets
along the Peachtree Corridor, told mem
bers of the NPU-B board on April 2 that
current restrictions on beer and wine of
ten prohibit retailers from setting up
shop in properties where they make the
most sense.
The reason, he says, is the reliance on
straight-line distances from single family
neighborhoods, rather than actual walk
ing distances.
“For example,” he told the board,
“You couldn’t put a beer and wine store
in certain parts of Lenox Mall, because
of their proximity to Peachtree Park on
the other side of Ga. 400. But actual
ly walking from one to the other would
take forever.”
Leffi also noted that, of the 10 prop
erties involved in the proposed change,
Buckhead Square is the only one with
out a retailer with an existing exemp
tion. The state-mandated distances be
tween packaged alcohol retailers, he
said, mean one of these stores would
have to close before another could open.
“To me, this sounds like you’re bring
ing us up to speed with the liquor-by-
the-drink requirements in that same cor
ridor,” said Bob Stasiowski, who heads
NPU-B’s Public Safety Committee.
“Right now, there’s a Peachtree Road ex
emption for this very same thing [as re
lates to] liquor by the drink.”
Abbie Shepherd, development and
transit chair for NPU-B, cast the only
vote against the proposed change. She
expressed concern over the implication
that the current distance requirements
fail to account for the disjointed nature
of Buckhead neighborhoods.
“For a long time the city has worked
to become more connected on foot,” she
said. “We re going to go back to recon
necting those neighborhoods.”
Leffi contends the change is necessary
because beer and wine sales are no lon
ger the exclusive domain of large super
markets and liquor stores. “We’ve seen
more and more concepts come along
that wouldn’t traditionally sell beer and
wine, and the idea is to attract these
varying uses into these large retail cen
ters where they make the most sense.”
Bus ad honors
Buckhead Coalition
president
Sam Massell, a former Atlanta may
or, gets around Buckhead better than
most. Now his optimistic smile will
grace the side of a MARTA bus.
Massell is president of the Buck-
head Coalition, a civic-minded
nonprofit that acts as the commu
nity’s most prominent booster. Mas
sell remains a committed champion
of Buckhead, and the Coalition he
founded is celebrating its 25th Anni
versary.
The banner ad congratulates Mas
sell on the anniversary and honors his
past as one of Atlanta’s mayors.
Massell, via press release, jokingly
said he hoped his image wouldn’t be
defaced with graffiti “reminiscent of
typical political campaigns.”
BRIEFS
Piedmont Healthcare
picks new president
and CEO
Eight months after the death of its
CEO, Piedmont Fiealthcare has named
a new leader for the organization that
oversees its Buckhead hospital.
Piedmont Fiealthcare announced
Kevin Brown will become president
and chief executive officer effective May
2013. Piedmont Fiealthcare is the par
ent company of Piedmont Fiospital, lo
cated at 1968 Peachtree Road, NW.
Brown, 46, is leaving his job as CEO
of Seattle-based Swedish Fiealth Servic
es, according to a press release.
BH
