Decatur Heights Neighborhood (Decatur, GA)

Live blogging the Selig meeting with neighborhoods on the Church Street side of Suburban Plaza at 7PM on Wed, 11/30/2011

Once the event goes live (at 7PM or possibly a bit earlier), you can read what Dave Kell (your reporter at the meeting) posts, or add your comments (which he'll post at his discretion). Tweets including the hashtag #DecaturHeightsGA may be added in. Please be civil. [You can enter your e-mail below to be reminded in advance of the meeting.]

Selig to meet with neighborhoods on Church St. side of Suburban Plaza

Selig intends to revitalize Suburban Plaza, including the introduction of a Walmart at the intersection of N. Decatur Rd and Medlock.  Selig reps will meet with residents of the neighborhoods on the Church St. side of Suburban Plaza to provide information and answer pre-submitted questions.  Here's the announcement letter, published today by the Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association (click on the image to see larger print):

Selig reps to meet with neighborhoods southeast of Suburban Plaza 11/30/2011

Nearby Neighborhoods Selig/ Walmart Redevelopment Meeting

For the Church Street Side of Suburban Plaza

 

DeKalb Medical

Wednesday, November 30th

7pm

Theatre, Ground Floor

 

The Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association invites neighbors from neighborhoods located in the Sycamore Dr., Forkner Dr., and Church St. areas to join us as Scott Selig and Bill Stogner of Selig Enterprises present the plans for Suburban Plaza, including Walmart's. They'll be addressing submitted concerns from the neighborhoods, and they'll take questions at the end.

 

Because seating is limited to 120, the meeting is for the above residents and the nearby businesses located along Church St. and Sycamore Dr. Our Decatur blogs have been invited to cover it.

 

Thank you to Dekalb Medical for graciously providing the meeting space. Deck parking (a contracted service) is $2/hour. Neighbors are encouraged to carpool.

Decatur Heights aerial view via Google Earth

This is an aerial view of the Decatur Heights neighborhood (with North at the top) as seen in Google Earth. [Click on the image to see a larger image]

WSB Ch. 2 reports on attempts to lower speeds on Sycamore Drive

We've been trying to make Sycamore Drive, the backbone of our neighborhood, safer for years. WSB gave a 2-minute report on our efforts on the news at 4:56PM and 5:18PM, and a slightly different one at 6:24PM:

If the video stops or stammer for you, wait until the blue bar almost reaches all the way to the right, then click back to the far left.

After I posted this, WSB posted it on its site:

http://www.wsbtv.com/videos/news/carl-willis-video/lYx/

Minutes from the 11/2/2011 info meeting on planned Suburban Plaza changes

At the request of the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association, representatives of Selig and Walmart provided information and answered questions re. the planned rejunvenation of Suburban Plaza (just NE of the Decatur, GA city limits), including plans for a Walmart.

An ealier post provided snapshots of tweets made during the meeting.

Here, in PDF format, are the minutes compiled by Deanne Thomas.

Download Suburban Plaza Redevelopment Community Meeting Notes

WSB Ch. 2 coverage of planned Walmart in Suburban Plaza

This is the 21-second segment WSB Ch. 2 aired late in the 11PM news on Thursday, 11/17/2011. I'm told a long segment, with comments from Selig and Walmart reps, aired at 6:30PM, but I didn't record that.

 

Decatur Heights meets with nearby neighborhoods re. Selig revitalization plans for Suburban Plaza, including a Walmart

Selig Enterprises is trying to revitalize Suburban Plaza, on N. Decatur Rd between Church St. and Medlock just northeast of the Decatur, GA city limit. For years, the center has lanquished.

If DeKalb County approves a parking variance in December, Walmart will build on the NW end, at the corner of N. Decatur Rd. and Medlock.

Selig is planning some retenanting, as the leases of current occpants run out. For instance, L. A. Fitness has expressed interest in moving into part of what has historically been a grocery store.

(click on image to see full size)

More details can be found at the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association (MANA) website.

At the request of MANA, representatives of Selig and Walmart met with Melock neighbors and invited representatives of other nearby neighborhoods on November 2nd, to provide information and answer questions. Dean Tarrell live-tweeted it.  Johnathan Cribbs live-tweeted it for the North Druid Hills-Braircliff Patch.

On Sunday the Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association (DHNA) Selig/Walmart Action Committee met with representatives from the Springdale Heights, Glennwood Estates, Sycamore Ridge, Sycamore Station, and Glenlake Commons neighborhoods.

 

In subsequent e-mail discussions, the action committee has formulated this letter and has sent it to neighborhood associations on the southeast side of Suburban Plaza.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

These are all of the items brought up Sunday by representatives of different neighborhoods. Decatur Heights will develop its own bullet points and encourages other neighborhoods to do the same. (An interim step might be to consolidate the points held in common and list those not by neighborhood.)

The next step is a community meeting so that neighbors and businesses on our side of Suburban Plaza will have an opportunity to hear from Selig and Walmart. The action committee will let the neighbors know when and where that meeting will take place.

The DHNA Walmart/Selig action committee

• James Gillespie
• Dave Kell
• Alison Kyle
• Ross Molinaro
• Rupesh Naik
• Samantha Naik
• Deanne Thomas
  Grace Ann Young 

Please comment if you have any thoughts on the matter (or contact one of the members of the committee). Neighbors are encouraged to comment on the DHNA Google Group:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/decatur-heights-neighbors

Dean Tarrell's tweets from the 11/3 Walmart informational meeting

Our neighbor, Dean Tarrell, live-tweeted the 11/3 meeting. Here are his tweets, in reverse order, from last to first, in the continuation. To read them in chronological order, go to the bottom and scroll up as you read.

There are 19 frames containing 6 tweets each, for a total of 114 (a few of which are by others following his tweets.] The columns have been kept narrow. so they can be read on a smartphone without scrolling.

The images he linked to can be found at the MedlockPark.com site (or I would post them as well).

We owe him big thanks for using this avant-garde means of communication, which a number in our neighborhood and elsewhere in Decatur-ish found very helpful.

Update: Deanne, James (and possibly others) also attended, and shared some of what they learned in the 9:30AM meeting 11/5. A future post will provide a summary of that meeting, and the path forward the attending decided upon.

Neighbor meeting re. proposed Walmart 9:30 AM Sat 11/5

We'll be meeting in the community room at the Church at Decatur Heights at 9:30 AM Saturday, 11/5 to discuss the proposed Walmart at the NW end of Suburban Plaza (at the corner of Medlock and N. Decatur Rd.

An informational meeting was held 11/3.