Atlanta Council Delays Vote on Walmart Development

Jaclyn Hirsch – Buckhead Patch

Atlanta City Council failed yet again on Monday to make a decision on the controversial mixed-use development plan off Lindbergh Drive west of North Druid Hills that includes a Walmart.

Council voted to send the zoning request back to committee to address the land use issues, according to a note sent to residents by the Lindridge Martin Manor neighborhood association.

Developers want to build a mixed-use development that would include a Walmart off Lindbergh Drive near the MARTA station.

But the property is zoned for residential use, and Monday’s city council vote indicates that council will not approve the project unless the property is rezoned.

“The Walmart development cannot go forward with out the land use being changed,” Lindridge Martin Manor Neighborhood Association President Roxanne Sullivan wrote to neighbors. “There was lots of speculation as to what does this mean. Most of them involved the fact that the developer did not have the votes for approval. It most likely will not come back from committee.”

Developers battled with neighbors for roughly two years in an effort to move the project forward.

Many residents in and around Buckhead opposed the project due to the size of the development and the location.

Andrea Bennett, who chairs NPU-B’s Development and Transportation Committee, told Reporter Newspapers “the accusations of prejudice against Walmart are unfounded.”

“We voted against this before Walmart ever entered the picture, before we even heard Walmart was involved,” Bennett said. “Our issue isn’t whether this is a Walmart or whether it’s a Nieman-Marcus or something else. It’s about the form of the development.”

Lindridge Martin Manor Seeks to Remain in Garden Hills District

Published in the Buckhead Patch:

Editor’s Note: Members of the Lindridge Martin Manor Neighborhood Association wrote  a letter to Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B.  Davis Jr.  on Feb. 11, 2012, following the release of two proposals that redraw  school  attendance zones. The neighborhood opposes removing families from Garden Hills Elementary School in Buckhead. The Lindridge Martin Manor Neighborhood Association shared its letter with Patch.

Dear Mr. Davis,

We in the Lindridge Martin Manor Neighborhood send approximately 250 students to Garden Hills Elementary School (GHES) .  This comprises approximately 36% of the current enrollment at the  school. As a result, any redistricting proposal which calls for the  removal of LMM families from the GHES district will have profound  impact. Given this reality we want our APS administrators and elected  officials to have a full understanding of these impacts as they affect  our neighborhood and its school (GHES).

LMMNA has been disappointed in APS’ lack of outreach to the Hispanic  and Latino populations that live in our community. The lack of available  information in Spanish both on APS’ website and at public meetings has  placed this population at a disadvantage in the current discourse.  Despite the request of the GHES PTA to include Spanish feedback forms on  the website and to provide translators at public meetings this has not  been done.

Option A which would redistrict our families into a new elementary  school, creates a school with no powerful political or economic allies  and a population that can least afford this abandonment. At best, this  proposal was founded in ignorance of these realities. At worst, it  represents an intentional and deliberate effort to segregate the poor  and people of color from the remainder of the Buckhead community.  Because of these concerns LMMNA cannot support this option in its  current configuration.

In addition, placing our students in a new elementary school would  initially deny them access to the IB program. LMMNA feels strongly that  the IB program should be maintained in the SRT4 cluster so as not to  disadvantage any student when they enter Sutton Middle School and/or North Atlanta High School.

Our proposed solutions address these concerns, and we reject the current Options A and B in favor of these proposals:

• Create a Garden Hills Primary Center similar to those in the Sarah Smith, Morris Brandon  and Jackson elementary  districts. Furthermore, explore the idea of including a Pre-K program  at this site as well. This solution would address the current lack of  public Pre-K opportunities in the SRT4 cluster and would be an  especially beneficial opportunity for the Hispanic and Latino students  in our community. In addition, it would relieve capacity issues at GHES  and allow the current district boundaries to remain intact.

• Create a 6th grade academy at Sutton Middle School  and a 7th/8th grade academy at the current  North Atlanta location. This would allow for the complete vertical integration of the  IB program.

Thank you in advance for your strong consideration of these  proposals. LMMNA would welcome the opportunity to meet with APS  officials to further discuss these issues at their earliest convenience.

Respectfully,

Roxanne Sullivan President Lindridge Martin Manor Neighborhood Association

Follow city-wide APS Redistricting coverage on Facebook. Read more about redistricting on the Buckhead Patch redistricting page.