Newspaper Page Text
2015: YEAR IN REVIEW
Brookhaven elects new mayor, unveils future development plans
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
It was a year of turmoil in city government, with political scandals and turnover in
the mayors office. But that didn’t stop 2015 from also being a year of big plans, from
MARTA station redevelopment to a new public charter school to a possible Peachtree
Creek park.
Here’s a look at some of Brookhaven’s top stories of 2015:
Brookhaven Innovation Academy
approved
After two years of effort and a previous
rejection, the Brookhaven Innovation Acad
emy, a new public charter school, final
ly won state approval on Aug. 26. That was
only the beginning of the story, as BIA be
gan a hunt for a school location and ran into
an ethics dust-up over its new interim exec- Brookhaven Innovation Academy
utive director.
Created by the City Council, BIA is focused on a science, technology and math
curriculum, and is intended in part to cope with overcrowding in DeKalb County
schools, especially Brookhaven’s Cross Keys cluster.
Approved less than a year before its scheduled August 2016 opening date, BIA
raced to find a school location. The city’s decision to purchase the Skyland Center
office building prior to BIA’s approval was partly informed by its possible use as a
school. Since then, BIA has proposed using space in Skyland Park and Brookhaven
Baptist Church, but it was still on the hunt in mid-December.
BIA’s relationship with the City Council triggered ethics concerns. The state re
quired BIA’s board to cut the number of seats held by council members as a condition
of the school’s approval. In October, BIA hired Councilman Bates Mattison as its in
terim executive director, which led Mayor Rebecca Chase Williams to order a legal
opinion about the ethics of Mattison’s dual jobs. BIA removed a commission-based
fundraising incentive from Mattison’s pay, and the legal review found that Mattison
can hold both jobs if he abstains from BIA-related council votes and discloses his re
lationships with its funders.
Uproar at City Hall
Repeated scandals plagued City Hall and had a lasting impact on local politics.
The communications director was fired, the city attorney resigned, and the state At
torney General ruled that City Council broke the law in keeping secret a report de
scribing an incident involving former Mayor J. Max Davis as “sexual harassment.”
Communications Director Rosemary Taylor was fired in April after her dispute
with a photographer at the Cherry Blossom Festival made news. Taylor complained
that the photographer’s use of models was “not the image Brookhaven wants.” The
photographer said Taylor’s comment was racist; Taylor said she was referring to what
she described as their inappropriate attire.
That scandal was tame in comparison to the fallout from a February incident
where Davis sprayed an aerosol can near two female employees. The incident became
public in the spring, with Davis calling it a “joke,” but City Manager Marie Garrett
calling it “sexual harassment” in an internal email. City Attorney Tom Kurrie eventu
ally resigned after advising the council to withhold that email while altering another
one related to the incident. The state Attorney General’s office later condemned the
council’s secrecy.
Davis, who had resigned to run for the House District 80 seat, blamed his loss in
that election partly on the fallout. And John Ernst, the former chair of the DeKalb
County Board of Ethics, won the mayoral race on a platform promising transparen
cy and reform.
Ernst elected mayor,
third in one year
John Ernst won a landslide victory Nov.
3 to become the third mayor of Brookhav
en. In fact, he will be the third mayor
within a single tumultuous year of leader
ship changes.
After Davis, the city’s founding mayor,
resigned in June to make an unsuccessful
2 | DEC. 25, 2015 — JAN. 7,2016 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
run for a seat in the state Legislature, City Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Williams
replaced him. Williams campaigned to retain the mayor’s office, but dropped out of
the race in September, citing family health issues.
Ernst, an attorney and former chair of the DeKalb County Board of Ethics, took
88 percent of the vote over candidate Dale Boone to win the mayor’s seat, which will
officially become his in January. “There’s no more ‘Brookhaven Yes’ or ‘Brookhaven
No,”’ Ernst said on Election Night, referring to committees that promoted or object
ed to creation of the city in 2012. “There’s just Brookhaven. I look forward to a bet
ter Brookhaven.”
Pill Hill apartments set Brookhaven
against Sandy Springs, lead to call for
better planning
Plans for a mixed-use project with 305 apartments on Johnson Ferry Road in Pill
Hill sparked some friction between leaders of Brookhaven and Sandy Springs, and got
some momentum going for better planning in the traffic-snarled medical center area.
The project’s site is on Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital land in Sandy Springs, but
close to the Brookhaven border. Brookhaven’s mayor protested developer North
American Properties’ plan at Sandy Springs meetings this summer, complaining of
lack of cross-border notice. Meanwhile, many residents in both cities criticized the
project as increasing traffic, though North American Properties says it will be walk-
able and transit-oriented. The brouhaha led Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul to con
vene a meeting with Pill Hill hospital leaders, who committed to more coordinated
traffic planning, though the details remain unclear.
SPECIAL
Dreams of turning Peachtree Creek along Buford
Highway into a park became a plan this year.
Peachtree Creek Greenway plan begins
Longstanding dreams of turning the hidden Peachtree Creek along Buford High
way into a linear park turned into a plan this year under the new name Peachtree
Creek Greenway. Spearheaded by a local nonprofit formerly known as North Fork
Connectors, the greenway is currently focused on Brookhaven’s 3 miles of the creek,
but the parkland goal ultimately applies to the entire waterway between Buckhead
and Mercer University in unincorporated DeKalb County. Early draft designs show
up to four different types of paths lining the creek, with similarities to Atlanta’s Belt-
Line.
Flowerland park idea is floated
Could Flowerland, a floral tourist attraction from yesteryear rise again on Cham-
blee-Dunwoody Road? Architect Andrew Amor last month presented a conceptual
idea for restoring the former gigantic flower garden of Dr. Luther Fischer in what is
now the D’Youville condominiums. Nearly a century ago, tourists flocked to Flower
land during the one day a year it was open to the public. Amor envisions the garden
reviving as a public park, along with recreations of a pioneer settlement and a Native
American village. But cost was the big question.
BK