Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current, January 25, 2013, Image 2
NORTHSIDE Hearing Center We have a hearing aid you can afford and enjoy. Call for appointment today! 770-751-7437 The NEW Phonak Dalia offers unique features of Enhanced Audibility, Speech Intelligibility and Wearing Comfort. The Dalia allows you to participate in conversations in an outdoor environment, catch up at family reunions and enjoy the laughter of children. The enjoyment of these simple pleasures is now more accessible regardless of what degree of hearing loss. The Phonak Dalia comes in a range of models, from extremely small and discreet in-the-ear forms to stylish behind-the-ear models. Call now to live without limits! ATLANTA 5730 Glenridge Dr Suite 220, Atlanta, GA 30328 ROSWELL 1360 Upper Hembree Rd Suite 201A, Roswell, GA 30076 CUMMING 1400 Northside Forsyth Dr Suite 320, Cumming, GA 30041 770-751-7437 www.northsidehearingcenter.com COMMUNITY Hearing on Brook Run trail to start Jan. 31 Brook Run Save 337 Trees Save the Money \ SayeDunwoody.com l JOE EARLE Protest signs, including these on Mount Vernon Road, are springing up in Dunwoody. They protest city proposals to remove trees to make room for a concrete, multi-use trail through Brook Run Park, to build a roundabout at the intersection of Vermack and Womack roads, and to rebuild Mount Vernon Parkway. BY TOM ODER AND JOE EARLE A DeKalb County judge will hold a hear ing Jan. 31 on wheth er to stop construc tion of a controversial 12-foot-wide concrete trail through the forest in Brook Run Park. Displeasure with the city’s plans has con vinced homeowners to complain at public meetings and to post yard signs opposing the project. The city’s plan for the trail calls for the removal of 337 trees in the first of two phases of trail construction in the park. “We’re planning to cut down hundreds of trees we don’t need to,” resident Jeff Coghill told members of Dunwoody City Council during their Jan. 14 meeting. “We should slow down a little bit and do what’s best for the park. I ask ev erybody here to step back and ... do it in a way that complements the park.” But city officials say the current trail plan will have only a small effect on the park. “Rainwater will be fun- neled away from neigh boring property lines, and engineer ing analysis shows that the impact of the construction of the trail will have no noticeable environmental impact on storm water runoff,” City Manager Warren Hutmacher wrote in a mem orandum dated Aug. 8. “With a large canopy of mature trees along the path and the minimal land disturbance of the trail, a negligible environmental impact is anticipated.” Hutmacher said changes that have been made to the plan were “to either save money, save trees or steer away from floodplain areas.” He said “ev ery effort” would be made to preserve significant hardwood trees. “The city does not expect the trail will signifi cantly negatively impact the tree cano py,” he wrote. The hearing on the temporary or der that has halted construction of the trail is scheduled for Courtroom 5-C on the fifth floor of the Judicial Tower in the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur. The hearing begins at 9 a.m. Superior Court Judge Tangela M. Barrie is allowing two days for the hearing, with testimony to continue on Feb. 1. Dunwoody homeowners Beverly Armento and Rebecca Moore filed suit seeking to stop the city from building a non-porous concrete, multi-use trail through the park’s forest. Armento and Moore contend the removal of the 337 trees in Phase One of construction would cause storm wa ter runoff, drainage and flooding that would result in irreparable harm to homes in the Lakeview Oaks subdivi sion that adjoins the forested edge of the park. Attorney Jenny R. Culler, who rep resents Armento and Moore, told Judge Barrie in a hearing on Friday, Jan. 4, that she will call a hydrologist to the stand who will support Armen- to’s and Moore’s contention. City Attorney Cecil McClendon says a separate hydrology report con ducted at the request of the city came to a different conclusion. Barrie on Dec. 13 issued a tem porary restraining order against con struction of the trail. She extended the order after a boisterous hearing Jan. 4 that was attended by city offi cials and dozens of opponents of the city’s plan. 2 | JAN. 25 —FEB. 7, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net DUN