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DUNWOODY
Zoning change approved for Mount Vernon Shopping Center
By Cathy Cobbs
Dunwoody’s Planning Commission
recommended a zoning change, with
several conditions, for a nearly empty
shopping center in Dunwoody to allow for
a greater variety of uses.
Branch Properties representatives say
they want to change the Mount Vernon
Shopping Center’s zoning designation
from Neighborhood Shopping to C-l to
allow for a greater diversity of uses beyond
a grocery store, which has seen a revolving
door of failed retail ventures in the last 10
years.
The planning commission discussed
the rezoning at its October meeting, but
deferred it after hearing complaints about
the variety of uses that a C-l designation
could bring to the center.
At the Nov. 20 meeting, Dunwoody
Senior Planner Madalyn Smith said
Branch has agreed to restrict several of
the allowed C-l uses, including capping
the square footage for schools and special
event facilities to 5,000.
Attorney Laurel David of Galloway
Law Group, representing the owners, said
Branch also proposed to mandate closing
hours to 11 p.m. from Monday through
Thursday and midnight on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday.
FFowever, several speakers, including
former Dunwoody Mayor Dennis Shortal,
commented that the proposed closing
hours are “probably a little late.”
The planning commission took into
consideration those statements and
unanimously passed the zoning change to
C-l, with the mandate that the yet-to-
be-determined business would close at 11
p.m. on Sunday.
After the meeting, Branch Partner and
Chairman NickTelesca said he is pleased
with the ruling.
“I appreciate that the board considered
it thoroughly and made a rational
decision,” Telesca said. “They made an
effort to see both sides.”
Telesca said the closure time
restrictions may be a factor as the company
seeks to find a suitable tenant for the
35,000-square-foot space that formerly
housed several grocery stores.
Discussion at the November meeting
was a sharp contrast to a contentious
neighborhood meeting in late July during
which a majority of attendees opposed
most of the ideas proposed by its owners.
Telesca said at the July meeting that
the company has had interest from
“eater-tainment” or lifestyle-focused
uses like food halls, pickleball courts or
entertainment arcades like PuttShack or
Main Event, which would have a sporting
element to them as well as food and
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Nick Telesca of Branch Properties tried to outline possible
uses for an empty Dunwoody shopping center space during
a public meeting over the summer.. (Photo by Cathy Cobbs)
alcohol options.
Branch officials
said the possibility of
putting in yet another
grocery store has been
shut down by all of the
companies they have
approached.
The February
closing of Lidl is the
fourth time that the
anchor tenant in
the Mount Vernon
Shopping Center has
been shuttered in the
last 10 years. It was
once a FFarris Teeter,
then an Ace FFardware,
followed by a Sprouts
Grocery before its three-year stint as a Lidl.
Sprouts was open from 2014-2018
before disappointing sales and the looming
end of the five-year lease prompted its
closure. Lidl opened in August 2020 to
great fanfare, but regular shoppers said
they noticed that the store’s business had
never been robust nor well-staffed.
The zoning change recommendation
will now move to the Dunwoody City
Council, which will hold a public hearing
at its Dec. 9 meeting.
Signage project gets mixed
reviews for size, location
By Cathy Cobbs
Dunwoody’s long-awaited gateway
signage plan has its first installations,
with mixed reviews about the one at
Georgetown regarding its size and location.
The granite and forged steel
“Dunwoody” sign at the corner
of Chamblee Dunwoody Road
and Cotillion Drive is one of
16 signs of various sizes to be
installed at city borders and is
getting most of the attention
from observers.
While several people said
they have taken pictures in
front of the Georgetown
sign and say they support
an emphatic message that
welcomes people to the city,
others decry that it draws
attention to a less-than-classy
section of the city, in front of a
Shell USA Gas Station and near
a McDonald’s.
Still others say that the $ 1 million price
tag for the entire project could have been
better used for paving, parks, or pickleball
courts.
The other recently installed sign is
located on Perimeter Center Parkway
NE near the bridge at 1-285, but it hasn’t
gotten as much attention.
According to city officials, the signs
represent five guiding principles for the
city:
■ improve amenity awareness
within the Perimeter market
■ create a unified Dunwoody
■ create a sign package that is
unique to Dunwoody and
timeless
■ create a sense of place
■ focus on pedestrians as well
as vehicles.
City officials have been discussing
gateway signs since 2010. The current plan
dates back to 2019.
“Discover Dunwoody spearheaded the
effort after finding in two separate surveys
that visitors didn’t know they were in our
city, making signage a priority,” the city’s
gateway project website said.
The sign designs were approved by
city council in January 2020 and signed
off on the Gateway & Wayfinding
plan in December of that year, and the
construction contract was approved in
August 2023. The plan is funded through
a combination of federal funding, hotel/
motel funds, and general capital project
funds.
Conceptual drawings of the
Georgetown signs include extensive
landscaping, which will partially block the
direct line of sight into the Shell station.
12 | DECEMBER 2024
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