Clairmont Heights Civic Association

CHCA board members attended a meeting called by developer Julian LeCraw Inc. and their attorney to preview their proposal for redevelopment of the Williamsburg Apartments, a complex designed mostly for independent seniors located southeast of the intersection of Clairmont and North Druid Hills. Presenting were attorney Kathy Zickert and Julian LeCraw representative David Baycura.

At this stage, what they want is to have the county extend the existing Toco Hills Town Center designation in the comprehensive land use plan to include all of their properties in that area, i.e., those on North Jamestown, Williamsburg and Blackshear. Currently, the Town Center designation covers all of Toco Hills and a couple Williamsburg buildings between North Jamestown and Clairmont (see maps below). The Town Center designation would enable them to redevelop the properties into a combination of mixed use (retail/residential) along a "main street" together with higher density apartments as well as detached single family and homes for independent seniors.

Zickert said that the idea originated with the county which wants to mitigate the traffic congestion at Clairmont @ North Druid Hills. Apparently, the idea is to reconfigure the roads so that people could avoid the intersection by cutting diagonally from Clairmont to North Druid Hills.

LeCraw showed a “bubble plan” (very preliminary) with extended boundaries for the town center. They said the county's planning department proposed the boundaries. It includes the entire area from Clairmont/North Druid to Blackshear on the east, the CSX Railroad on the south east, and McConnell on the south. That would include the northern part of Mason Mill Park, but that does not mean the park would be sold to the developer. It probably means that the developer would be encouraged to incorporate the park into their designs as an open space amenity.

Note that not all the properties within the area belong to Julian LeCraw (see the assessor map below), but LeCraw is the dominant presence.

They are seeking to get the town center change approved at the September meeting of the Board of Commissioners. They estimate it will then take another 18 months to create a plan and submit required traffic studies to the county and environmental studies to the Atlanta Regional Commission, and another 5-6 years to implement the redevelopment in phases. They promised many more public meetings to gather community input and the board will be there to represent our concerns regarding traffic, pedestrian access, and environmental protection. We will take advantage of the soon-to-be published "Clifton Corridor Urban Guidelines" for mixed use development in our area for which CHCA and other communities contributed ideas.

A copy of their application to the county is attached.

The CHCA board put together the following linked map with overlays of the current Town Center map, the Tax Assessor map, and placemarks showing which properties are part of the Williamsburg complex according to the county tax assessor's website.

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/tbryso...

Here’s a link to the full county map of the Toco Hills Town Center:

http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/planning/pdf/comPlanMaps/TownCenters/Toco%20H...

Here’s a link to the county’s guide to the comprehensive plan. See pages 9 and 27 for descriptions of what a Town Center is supposed to mean. The county defines a "town center" as "A focal point for several neighborhoods with a concentration of activities such as retail, service commercial, professional office, higher-density housing, and open space." Other areas nearby designated as town centers include North DeKalb Mall and the "Clifton Community" which comprises Emory University and the intersection of Clairmont and North Decatur Road.

http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/planning/pdf/longRange/implementation.pdf