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BRANDON
PATTERSON
Kirkwood. $359,900 Midtown. $995,000 Glenwood Park. $649,900
2126 Elvan Circle 868 Penn Avenue NE 507 Hamilton Street SE
Listing Agent: Adam Ellis & Patti Ellis Listing Agent: Adam Ellis & Patti Ellis
Licensed in 2004, Brandon offers 10 years of proven negotiating and client relations
experience. He is also a Veteran and understands and appreciates the complexity ofVA
loans. An Intown resident since 2009, Brandon is keenly aware of the Atlanta market,
neighborhoods and future development. Real estate is his main passion, but closely followed
by CrossFit, running, yoga, live music, volunteering and a spicy Blood Mary.
Call him today and let him put his 10 years of real estate experience to work for you!
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ATLANTA WOMEN’S
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Now accepting new patients!
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Located in the Physician’s Plaza at Piedmont Hospital
Joanne M. Cox, MD Gabriela D. Siegel, MD
Cyd G. Williams, MD S. Alice Hood, MD
Vanessa J. Biggs, MD Holly A. Sternberg, MD
Residents discuss long-range plans
for improving north Buckhead
By Joe Earle
Greg Hill and his wife chanced upon
a flier announcing a community planning
session for their north Buckhead
neighborhood. They decided to check it
out.
So, one recent Saturday morning, they
joined about two dozen of their neighbors
in an elementary school gym/auditorium to
talk about what north Buckhead should be
like in 25 years or so.
“We’re always complaining about
traffic,” Hill said. “We don’t like to be
complainers. We like to be fixers. This is
an opportunity to get involved.”
Hill seemed impressed by what he
heard and saw as members of the North
Buckhead Civic Association met with
planners for a 3-hour discussion Aug. 16
at Sarah Smith Elementary’s Intermediate
Campus.
“I think it’s a great way to inform
the community of what’s going on and
also to get great input from people who
are invested in the community,” Hill
said. “There’s a lot going on, and a small
group of people seem to be doing all the
legwork.”
Residents gathered around tables for
discussions of Roswell Road, Piedmont
and Peachtree roads, transportation,
parks and the neighborhood’s residential
core. Residents debated traffic problems
and issues with future development
and drew colorful lines on maps as part
of a process through which the North
Buckhead association intends to develop
a long-range plan for the community.
The finished plan will be adopted by
the association and then given to Atlanta
city officials for adoption by the city,
planners said. A draff of the plan is to be
presented in a public meeting Sept. 30 at
St. James United Methodist Church.
During discussions Aug. 16, residents
identified places that might be used as
future parks, proposed a trail or sidewalk
system to connect the existing parks and
the North Buckhead neighborhood to
Chastain Park and outlined areas where
future development needed controls.
“I really think this master plan
process is going to put Roswell Road on
the map,” said Sally Silver, a Buckhead
resident who works with Atlanta City
Councilman Howard Shook. “It’s like the
red-headed stepchild out here. Peachtree
and Piedmont getting taken care of...
but from the Buckhead Village to the city
line, it’s a hodgepodge.
“If something doesn’t happen soon,
it’s going to be one of those places no one
goes because you can’t get anywhere.”
Residents also proposed converting
parking garage roofs to green spaces
and convincing the city or neighbors to
develop new parks in the community.
North Buckhead association president
Gordon Certain mapped a triangular
parcel he said was cut off by surrounding
homes and could not be developed. “It’s
just trees,” he said. “Nobody can get there
[by road], but if we could [make it a
park], it would be really cool.”
Some residents worried about the
pace of development in Buckhead.
Graham Carter, for instance, questioned
whether his father could afford the
increase in taxes if his home were zoned
commercial. He said planners needed to
take care with how they propose changes
to older neighborhoods now near high-
rises.
“This area is sensitive,” Carter
said, and a substantial increase in real
estate taxes “would say you effectively
taxed him out of his home. That would
be counter to what historically this
neighborhood association has wanted
to do, to build into a study like this the
means to stick it to people who have lived
there 40 years.”
Other residents called for measures
to slow down traffic, improve crosswalks
and sidewalks and to protect the
community’s trees. “The fact you have
neighborhoods so green, so forested
within a few blocks of downtown
densities is remarkable,” senior
planner Caleb Racicot of planners and
architecture firm TSW told the residents.
Hill welcomed proposals he heard,
especially about the PATH400 trail now
being built along Ga 400. He had seen
signs of the construction, he said, “but
now I know where it goes.
“I’m going to have buy a bike,” he
said, “because I’ve got somewhere to ride
it.” ESI
Photo by Joe Earle
Residents look over plans at a recent planning session for the future of Buckhead.
AtlantalNtownPaper.com
1 6 September 2014 | INtOWIl
