By Cathy Cobbs
For The Crier
For Dunwoody, 2009 was a year that could be categorized as “the start of things to come.”
Some beginnings were strong, some sputtered and some completely fizzled out.
The machinations of the new city of Dunwoody came roaring out of the gates in 2009, along with the police department’s rollout in April, as well as a campaign for life-saving automated external defibrillators for each of the city’s patrol cars.
Other campaigns, such as an exploration of the city’s sanitation contract possibilities, a move of the farmer’s market to another location, an ordinance to put some regulations on the number of chickens allowed in Dunwoody yards, negotiations between the city and DeKalb County regarding the transfer of parks and the expansion of Marist School’s campus, all hit significant roadblocks and limped along without resolution.
Still others, like a billboard company’s lawsuit against Dunwoody and a controversial zoning decision for a day care in Dunwoody Village came to a screeching conclusion during the year.
Add to the mix another round of April Fool pranks and a successful Fourth of July parade, and you’ve got the year 2009 in the bag.
Government machine kicks into gear
During the first week in January, Dunwoody hired DeKalb police officers as temporary enforcers of the law, and adopted an interim comprehensive land use plan and a zoning map.
Extensively covered by the local media, city work crews with magnetic signs displaying the Dunwoody seal were out early Friday completing a few work orders on damaged signs, inoperative traffic signals and potholes.
Later that month, Dunwoody lifted DeKalb County Commission’s moratorium on all applications and a city council moratorium on zoning, and began to accept zoning applications, building permits and the like.
Early in the year, the city saw its first lawsuit. Covenant Media of Georgia filed a civil action in DeKalb County Superior Court against the city, its development director and a DeKalb County official, claiming that the sign moratorium put into place by the city on December 15 was unconstitutional, and in essence, that Covenant got the run-around when trying to file applications for nine billboards within the city limits.
The complaint, filed January 16 by attorneys E. Adam Webb and Matthew Klause representing Covenant, asked, among other things, for a jury trial, an injunction preventing the city and the county from enforcing the moratorium, unspecified monetary damages, and an order to force the city to consider the nine Covenant applications.
In July, however, Covenant filed to end its suit against the city and its pursuit of nine billboards in the heart of the city. The city is considering a counter lawsuit against the company for two electronic billboards that were installed in the 12th hour, right before Dunwoody became a city.
Midway through the city’s first year, the financial report for the city was favorable, with certain items exceeding expectations such as building permits, hotel taxes, and fines, while other items fell short of expectations such as business taxes and alcoholic taxes. By the end of the year, the city was projecting a $2 million surplus for the year.
The icing on the cake for the year was the late announcement of a letter to DeKalb County finance officials and Dunwoody Mayor Ken Wright confirming a $252,000 Homestead Option Sales Tax payment to the city, but confirming the state is holding an additional $627,727 until a lawsuit about the HOST distribution method with the cities is resolved.
County officials note that in addition to the suit from the cities, DeKalb appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court a ruling from a lower court affirming HB 264, the legislation that made Dunwoody a qualified municipality for HOST reimbursement.
The county has contended the HOST formula was approved by voters countywide and can’t be changed without their approval.
Nobody other than the incumbents filed qualifying papers for District 1, 2 or 3 council seats, and there was no election in Dunwoody on November 3.
All three council members will serve for four more years.
The next election, in 2011, will involve incumbents Danny Ross, John Heneghan, Robert Wittenstein and Mayor Ken Wright.
Police: Game on
On April 1, the 40 officers and eight civilian employees of the Dunwoody police department took their oaths of office at the Dunwoody Farmhouse before an appreciative crowd of more than 200 Dunwoody residents, DeKalb County officials and police officials from neighboring cities.
At midnight, the officers assembled for their first roll call. As midnight approached, 40 black and white squad cars rolled out from the new Dunwoody city hall and police headquarters, blue lights flashing and an appreciative audience applauding.
“The average officer,” said police chief Billy Grogan, “has 11 years of experience; two are graduates of the FBI National Academy in Virginia and four hold master’s degrees. Many have been SWAT team commanders and one has been a member of the Drug Enforcement Administration task force.”
The DeKalb police added to the pageantry by closing the intersection of Perimeter Center East and Ashford Dunwoody for 20 minutes to mark the transition to Dunwoody’s new force. At exactly 11:59:30, the roar of V-8s, the piercing sirens and the flashing lights of 40 Dunwoody patrol cars rolled down Perimeter Center East at Ashford Dunwoody, half going straight and the other half heading north into the residential areas of the city.
The police had a busy first week on the streets, racking up a variety of arrests ranging from routine cases - shoplifting, traffic violations, and car break-ins to high drama: a home invasion/kidnapping at the Gables Apartments that resulted in the seizure of almost 20 pounds of marijuana.
Since then, the police have responded to 18,596 calls for service, including two rapes, 34 robberies, 88 assaults, 138 burglaries, 710 larcenies and 61 vehicle thefts. More than 1,000 arrests have been made, and an additional 987 accident reports and 4,300 traffic citations written. The police have also issued 1,388 traffic warnings.
More than 32 vehicles, 45 items and 75 crime scenes have been processed for evidence. On four occasions, police have had to use enough force to warrant a report. Three of those involved using a Taser.
Court is in session
As of February 25, Dunwoody court cases were being heard, fines wer being paid and justice was being served.
The court, which is held on Wednesdays one week at 8:30 a.m. and on Wednesday nights on the next week at 6:30 p.m., is handling misdemeanor traffic violations and city ordinance violations.
The fines for these violations run anywhere from $15 to $1,000, with many of them hovering around $200.
“A lot of our offenses have that type of fine (around $189),” said Lowery.
Dunwoody has a ‘heart’ for lifesaving devices
The campaign for life-saving Automated External Defibrillators for Dunwoody, which started early in the year, reached the finish line in early December.
Appropriately, it was a group from Dunwoody that put Bob and Kathy Lundsten’s effort over the top.
A check from the Dunwoody Women’s Club was presented last week to Kathy Lundsten and Grogan, completing the $75,000 needed to purchase the 47 AEDs to outfit every police car in the city.
The AEDs are already in place, and the officers trained to use them, according to Bob Lundsten.
After raising enough money to buy 30 units, Phillips Electronics, the supplier, agreed to advance the remaining 17 units. They were delivered to Dunwoody in mid-September.
Lundsten knows about the lifesaving importance of these devices. Nine years ago, his wife, Kathy, went into sudden cardiac arrest at their daughter’s volleyball game. There was not an AED in the building.
Two nurses began performing CPR, but the mother of three did not regain a spontaneous heartbeat until she arrived at Kennestone Hospital, 42 minutes after the cardiac arrest.
An AED on-site could have changed her life and perhaps given her a complete and full recovery.
Trash talking in Dunwoody
Not everything in the city went as swimmingly as the establishment of its government and police operations.
Several exploratory public forums regarding the future of the city’s garbage and recycling contracts revealed that an overwhelming number of citizens were happy with DeKalb County’s service and didn’t want to see that change.
Five speakers — representing DeKalb County, the cities of Chamblee, Doraville and Sandy Springs, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs — offered their advice and experiences on what the city should do when its contract with DeKalb County Sanitation ends November 30, 2010.
The first speakers showcased the services the county already provides to Dunwoody. DeKalb County provides twice-weekly household waste collections, weekly yard debris compost recycling, weekly single-stream recycling, free bulky item collection and free back-door service for the disabled and those who request it. The annual cost is about $265 a year for homeowners.
As for paying to continue service, both county officials said that unless Dunwoody requested to change days in which different waste was picked up, the costs would essentially remain the same as if this were unincorporated DeKalb. Increased charges would occur in the event of market forces, such as the cost of fuel, trucks and wages. Currently, the city of Lithonia is the only municipality in DeKalb using the county’s sanitation services.
As for the city of Chamblee, city manager Jim Gleason said only 900 homes and no multi-family dwellings are covered by the city’s own sanitation fleet for a city of 12,000.
“It is not inexpensive to run your own sanitation,” he said, “though there would be some pride in seeing ‘Dunwoody’ on the side of a truck.”
Compared to DeKalb County, Chamblee has a $200 a year tax for sanitation services, but because of the expense of running its own fleet and the fact that Chamblee does not charge those older than 65 to pick up their trash, Gleason said the city depends on a $477,000 yearly tax subsidy to help run the department
Luke Howe, city manager of Doraville, offered his opinions on his city’s use of private contractors. In 2005, Doraville outsourced its trash collection to Advance Disposal Services. The service costs residents $200 a year for weekly collections of trash, yard refuse and recycling. Howe said it has been advantageous for the city, since all it has to do is handle the billing.
Like Gleason before him, Howe also recommended staying with DeKalb County. “Doing it yourself can be a nightmare,” he added.
Thomas Black, who heads Sandy Springs’ public works and formerly led DeKalb County’s public works department, spent most of his time praising DeKalb County.
Two more public forums, which were held for Dunwoody citizens to listen and voice their opinions, were sparsely attended.
Farmer’s Market finds a new home
An emotionally charged issue that threatened to divide the Dunwoody City Council over the establishment of a weekly farmer’s market at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church was defused, thanks to some quick work by councilor Danny Ross.
The farmer’s market negotiated a lease with the U.S. Postal Service that negated the need for a change in city code.
“The owners of the property adjacent to the Dunwoody Post Office Building have granted permission for the Dunwoody Farmers’ Market to use the area each Wednesday morning commencing as soon as May 13, and operating until December 1, 2009,” according to a joint announcement released by the city council and farmer’s market representatives.
The controversy over the establishment of the market had been moving through several Dunwoody government agencies, as lawmakers struggled with enforcing city code enforcement laws that DeKalb County had long ignored.
The market had been operating for years at the Dunwoody Nature Center, and later at the Spruill Arts Center on Ashford Dunwoody without a valid operating license, but the county had always looked the other way.
The market then had to relocate as a result of new construction at the Spruill location, and city officials became aware of the need to find a new location that complied with city code. They were concerned about setting a precedent by allowing a commercial venture operate in a residential area.
The Dunwoody Planning Commission had approved the market site by a 4-3 vote, but the Dunwoody Homeowners’ Association voted 12-1 to oppose the market’s establishment at the church
The issue drew a sizable crowd to the Dunwoody city council meetings, with many residents favoring changing the zoning code to allow the gatherings and others warning that such a change would open every church property in the community to markets of all kinds.
Chickening out
The great Dunwoody chicken debate involved several city agencies, but didn’t get very far in the process as impassioned parties on both sides argued about the merits of raising the birds within the city.
While there clearly are city council members clucking about a proposed ordinance allowing backyard chickens, such wasn’t the case with the Dunwoody Homeowners’ Association.
The board heard from Andy Schneider, the self-styled “chicken whisperer,” who founded an organization of backyard chickenkeepers who now number more than 800 in metro Atlanta.
The debate over keeping hens for eggs has moved from city to city, with Roswell the latest to adopt an ordinance. Under Dunwoody’s code, chickens are allowed only on land zoned agricultural.
Schneider said he often hears four major questions about backyard fowl. They concern noise, smell, attraction of rodents and diminished property values.
Since the proposed ordinance would ban roosters, Schneider said noise would not be a problem. He described the sorts of containers that prevent rodents from getting at the chicken feed.
Schneider said chickens make great pets, are great compostors and supply great fertilizer, in addition to being a local, sustainable food source.
After much discussion, the council decided to do more research for later discussion and referred the issue to several community entities.
Parks stall out
Negotiations between DeKalb County and the city of Dunwoody over the transfer of parks within the city reached an impasse that, over the past year, involved a complicated, twisty road of litigation and failed negotiations.
The Georgia Senate passed legislation that would cover the transfer of county parks to the new city of Dunwoody, but the bill was derailed in a state House subcommittee.
At the end of a meeting shortened by the need for some House members to attend a rules committee meeting, state Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) decided not to call for a vote. DeKalb’s chief executive, Burrell Ellis, and several DeKalb legislators were there to oppose the bill.
Instead, Willard recommended the city and county seek mediation, but that reached an impasse as the city and county officials have remained far apart in the dollar figure that both parties feel they deserve.
A critical issue in the Dunwoody issue is the 2006 parks bond issue, in which $11 million was promised for Brook Run improvements. About $4 million has been spent. Attorneys working for the city believe the city is entitled to the remainder of the funds since the money was advertised in materials aimed at passing the bond issue. In addition, Dunwoody taxpayers will be paying for the bonds for another 26 years.
Earlier in the negotiations, Ellis proposed that Dunwoody lease the parks for 49 years for a token payment, operate and control the parks and receive the remaining promised bond funds.
Most Dunwoody council members consider the city’s parks paid for by past tax dollars while the county commission believes Dunwoody must pay for land purchases and parks improvements.
Marist expansion gets pushback
An expansion plan for the private Catholic high school has had its shares of bumps in the road, with neighbors continuing to oppose Marist’s plans to add tennis courts, practice fields and parking to green space that abuts several homes.
The neighbors have asked Marist to agree to a number of conditions including a landscaped buffer, and no lighting or sound systems on the fields.
Marist has met with the neighbors and representatives of the YMCA, which also had concerns about the potential impact of the Marist’s plans on its soccer programs, but the DeKalb Community Council voted for a full cycle deferral on the Marist School’s request for a zoning change to its Ashford Dunwoody property.
This is the second time the council has voted for a deferral, with council member Kathy Glenn saying that Marist was trying to “bully” the neighbors.
Marist’s attorney, Den Webb, countered that the private school had responded positively to nearly all neighbor concerns.
Post office leaving?
The Dunwoody Post Office. Love it or hate it, but are we willing to say goodbye to it?
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Postal Service, there is a proposal on the table elocate postal retail operations from the Dunwoody Branch to the Carrier Annex and dispose of the Dunwoody Branch property through a public sale.”
The Carrier Annex, located on North Shallowford Road south of Dunwoody Park Drive, is a sorting and storage facility, but does not function as a customer service location. If the consolidation takes place, it would be converted to such a use.
The Dunwoody location has long been a source of dissatisfaction by its patrons for its employees’ slow service and truculent behavior. In an earlier interview with The Crier, Dunwoody Postal Supervisor Dana English said that selling the Dunwoody location had been discussed, among other options.
After the hearing, no action had yet been taken by the USPS.
Day care fires up neighbors
After the Dunwoody Board of Zoning Appeals granted a variance for a day care center to build a 15,400-square foot playground within an established stream buffer, a group of residents behind the development appealed the deicision in DeKalb Superior Court. The appeal was later denied.
The zoning board voted 5-0 to allow a stream-buffer variance for the Goddard School, which wants to build a playground in the parking lot behind the proposed facility at 1532 Dunwoody Village Parkway.
But attorney Linda Dunlavy, who represents several dozen Vernon North subdivision residents, said the decision was “dead wrong.”
Terry Nall, one of the 25 neighbors who attended the BZA meeting, said the citizen’s board “took the easy out - that a 154-person playground built at the edge of a property line next to homeowners is better for a stream buffer than a parking lot.”
“There were multiple defects with the application itself, as well as the processes used by the board,” Nall said. “In addition, ZBA and city staff spent much of its time writing conditions of a variance approval to make up for where the application was incomplete.”
In its first break with the new city government, the Dunwoody Homeowners’ Association board of directors voted 10-1 to contribute to the legal fund of the Vernon North neighborhood as that body challenges a recent ruling allowing the daycare center.
In November, the court granted a motion to dismiss the homeowners’ claims.
A new school is born
After several stop-work orders for non-compliance on building issues, Dunwoody’s newest elementary school opened its doors in August.
More than 500 people attended an open house the Saturday before school began, including students, teachers as well as other Dunwoody residents, who got the first look at the first elementary academy in DeKalb County.
The academy is a 107,200 square-foot building located on a 17-acre lot. It contains 60 instructional units on two floors, a basketball gymnasium and can accommodate 975 students. According to administrators, 740 children enrolled. There are 14 fourth-grade teachers and 13 fifth-grade teachers, as well as 19 other educators.
Originally new attendance lines were to be drawn throughout the Dunwoody cluster. However, the school’s mission was changed when parents objected, and administrators came up with a new plan that they said was a better solution to overcrowding. Students from Chesnut, Vanderlyn and Austin elementary schools matriculate to attend Dunwoody Elementary for fourth and fifth grade.
Changing of coaching guard
Several Dunwoody High School coaches moved to administrative positions within the high school, while several other DHS coaches left for other schools. Chamblee High School lost a football coach for the fifth time in10 years.
Baseball coach Tom Bass and swimming/tennis coach Tom McFerrin became assistant principals at DHS, Bass replaced Genita Williams and McFerrin took over duties from Mar-De Kilcrease. Both have moved to positions in other schools.
Bass, a former Georgetown University pitcher, has amassed a record of 233-138-3 record as Dunwoody’s head baseball coach, according to his baseball camp website, which he has run during the off-season for the past 14 years.
McFerrin, a popular mass media teacher at the school, led the swim team to a runner-up title in 2008, and his boys’ and girls’ tennis teams reached the Elite Eight in the state playoffs in the spring. He has also spearheaded the journalism class on its annual trip to New York City for many years.
The Bass and McFerrin promotions mark a total turnover of Dunwoody High School’s major sports programs. In March, football coach James Teter resigned to take over the reins at Sequoyah High School, and was replaced by Michael Youngblood, who previously coached at Burke County, Chattahoochee and Tucker High Schools.
Dunwoody’s basketball coach Scott Bracco left in June to take a similar position at South Gwinnett High School. He has been replaced by former Central Gwinnett High School basketball coach Adam Griffin, who will teach history classes as well as coach the Wildcats.
Since 2000, Chamblee has had five head football coaches, and the search for a new coach has become an infamous bi-annual tradition.
Chamblee last month added Michael Collins to the list of departing coaches.
Collins informed his football players and parents that he had accepted the head football job at Wheeler High School in Cobb County. In the last two seasons, Wheeler has had consecutive losing seasons.
In Collins’s two years at Chamblee, the Bulldogs went 13-9. In both years, Chamblee was the fourth seed from region 6-AAAA, and the Bulldogs lost twice in the first round of AAAA state playoffs.
April Fools
This year’s April Fool jokes could have had the PETA people outraged and Dunwoody residents calling for a boycott of a local shopping center.
A sign on Dunwoody Club Drive near Deerfield subdivision announced the construction of “Happy Heli-Hunting Grounds,” featuring a shotgun-wielding woman hanging out of a helicopter and a “client” blasting away at a fawn and small rabbit.
“Blast ‘em from on high,” the poster proclaimed. “Fun for the whole family.”
In addition, in front of the CVS store on Mount Vernon Road near Jett Ferry Road, a sign picturing a scantily clad female in a yellow bathing suit advertising “Bikini’s Adult Show Bar” had residents either chuckling or worried about the impact of such an establishment on their home values.
A Fourth to remember
Touted as Georgia’s biggest and best parade ever, Dunwoody’s 2009 event, “A Gathering of Eagles” did not disappoint the estimated 32,000 spectators on Saturday.
With more than 170 entries, the event could have been hot and tedious, but with crisp direction from parade marshals and few gaps in the route, the event moved along with military precision, and the last float turned the final corner from Dunwoody Village Parkway into the village at 11:30 a.m.
Even the weather cooperated for the first time in several years, with parade-time mercury hovering in the upper 70s, warming to the mid-80s by noon. A constant breeze kept crowds cool, a noticeable change from previous years’ 90-degree plus temperatures.
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