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Community Corner

Druid Hills Teen Center One Step Closer to Approval

Lake Claire Visits Board Meeting with Complaints about Frazer Center

’s application for a special-use land permit that would allow the proposed new teen center Get Grounded to operate in a rental house on Ridgewood Drive got a vote of approval Wednesday night from the Druid Hills Civic Association’s board of directors.

The permit application has 12 conditions and will expire in two years. The teen center will lease the 2,000-square-foot house for one year. The permit will be voted on by DeKalb County's planning and zoning commission at its Sept. 8 meeting and by the full board of commissioners on Sept. 27.

Some homeowners from Emory Walk, across North Decatur Road from the proposed center, attended the meeting, speaking out against the placement of the center at the location.

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“We are not against a teen center; we just feel it’s not appropriate for this location,” said Emory Walk resident Carolyn Farley, citing concerns about “flash parties” (parties organized on short-notice via cellphones and instant messaging), noise, traffic and occupancy hazards.

She said the one-way street does not have sidewalks and feeds into Emory’s medical parking facilities.

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One condition of the permit is that off-duty police officers will staff the center. In addition, the teen-led center will have adult staff on site at all times.

The center is expected to operate daily for teens from the sixth to 12 grades. Money to operate the facility will come from donations and other private sources.

 “We are always sensitive to the ‘Emory edge’ issues, but really we don’t think this is going to be an encroachment,” said DHCA President Bruce MacGregor, in a telephone interview after the meeting, which lasted until nearly 11 p.m.

In other action, the Druid Hills Civic Association approved a new grant approval policy to establish a semi-annual application process.

“We’ve been making small grants – such as to Druid Hills Youth Sports to clean up some flooding and replace some equipment at Medlock Park and to the Parkwood Garden Club to make improvements to the wooded area between East and West Parkwood – and we wanted to create a uniform policy for formal applications,” MacGregor said.

In executive session, the board discussed their “Nunan property” litigation opposing the subdivision of three parcels on Oxford and Clifton roads into seven.

“We are appalled that the county let [the applicants] bypass the Historic Preservation Commission, in clear violation of both the county code and the county law department," MacGregor said by phone. "One of the concerns of both the Civic Association Network [CAN] and us is that senior county staff can make code interpretations and make decisions that have huge ramifications for us with no consequences for themselves... The Pure nightclub on Briarcliff was permitted illegally, and it took $30,000 in legal fees to get it fixed, and there were no consequences to staff.”

CAN is meeting today with DeKalb County to air their concerns on a variety of issues, MacGregor said.

 “There seems to be a practice and a history of creative code interpretation to exploit or even create loopholes,” MacGregor said. “There’s also been a practice of bringing the hammer down on everyday residents and letting favored builders and developers go.”

In an added item to the agenda, neighbors from Lake Claire brought their concerns about the construction of a new parking lot at the Frazer Center .

Katie Brady, a neighbor on Marlbook Drive, said the center has begun a parking lot without permit in the area directly behind her house. The neighbors, according to the Lake Claire Neighbors’ website, have obtained a stop-work order.

They presented a petition with more than 150 signatures and sought the support of the board in their objection to a proposed certificate of appropriateness being sought from the city. The Frazer Center abuts the line between unincorporated DeKalb and the City of Atlanta.

Public meetings will be held on Aug. 29 for a bundle of approvals related to the center.

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