Dunwoody City Council candidates share visions for city’s future

Photo by Cathy Cobbs Editor s Note On Wednesday Oct the DHA and Rough Draft Atlanta held a candidate forum in advance of the Nov poll at Stage Door Theatre Below is a transcript of the forum which has been edited for clarity and style Tim Brown moderated the forum and Cathy Cobbs managing editor of Reporter Newspapers and Bob Fiscella past DHA president demanded questions of the panelists Because length of the forum this story contains several of the questions that were posed to the candidates You can watch the entire forum on Vimeo here which was recorded and edited by Jimmy Economos Candidate introductions Catherine Lautenbacher Catherine Lautenbacher District Post Thank you to the Dunwoody Homeowners Association for allowing us to have this forum My name is Catherine Lautenbacher I am from a Navy family I have an engineering degree and an MBA I was in the Air Force as an intelligence officer for four years followed by time in the manufacturing business I took time off to raise my children and in that time I exposed nonprofit work I was president of the Mill Glen Association the swim organization swim club the Dunwoody Nature Center and the Public Assistance Center And now I serve as a trustee for The Nature Conservancy for the Georgia chapter My day job is with Leadership Perimeter Rob Price District Post Hi all I m Rob Price I m a -year resident of Dunwoody I moved here in with my wife Jenny I have two kids My oldest daughter is a graduate of Dunwoody High School and she is at present at UGA My youngest daughter is currently a novice at Chamblee High School I ve represented Dunwoody on the city council since and prior to that I served on the planning commission for four years I m at this moment on the board of Create Dunwoody which is an arts and cultural organization here in the city My learning and employment background include more than years of work experience with community procedures and environmental science The goals I have for my second term are to build on the success of the last four years I want to continue to improve the quality of life in the city in all areas from citizens safety to transportation to arts and custom and parks basically to make Dunwoody an even better place to live through steady and incremental improvements I also want to continue to foster economic progress to maintain a strong local market system and keep our taxes low And at last I want to continue to provide responsive constituent arrangement Thank you David Ziskind David DZ Ziskind District Post Good evening I m David Siskin I m running for the Dunwoody City Council because I believe our city deserves leadership that listens Plans strategically and puts residents first I ve lived in Dunwoody for the past years as a small business owner husband and father of three boys who attend Vanderlyn Elementary and Peachtree Middle My family and I chose Dunwoody for its strong public excellent schools and quality of life My priorities are straightforward Keep neighborhoods safe with well supported and accountable masses safety be a responsible steward of our tax dollars by prioritizing essential services before asking for more investing in critical infrastructure better roads improved improved drainage and connectivity for everyone supporting sensible responsible zoning that protects neighborhood character while allowing smart enhancement and enhancing our parks and green space that makes Dunwoody special As a small business owner I understand the importance of making tough decisions with limited materials while delivering results This campaign is about ensuring Dunwoody remains a city we re all proud to call home Thank you Wendi Taylor Wendi Taylor District Post I m Wendy Taylor and what motivated me to get my master s in Industrial and Systems Engineering was I really liked to solve problems and deliver solutions and do it for the least achievable money and I had a long career I ve had a long career doing this for a lot of clients and really enjoyed that But what I identified even more special was truly kind of a secondary career which is been a voluntary one and I ve been favored to help so multiple people in around the world as far away as Afghanistan the Philippines Kosovo Here at home I have been serving as a board member for LifeSouth public blood banks for over years Tom Lambert District Post My name is Tom Lambert and for the past eight years it s been my honor to serve you as your district three city council member I m a proactive leader and I m proud to have championed initiatives that delivered real results for Dunwoody including the creation of dunwoody s entertainment districts which have sparked millions in private funding and brought new restaurants and gathering spaces to our population to spearheading the capital improvement plan which ensures priorities prior prioritization transparency and accountability for city projects I ve made a personal commitment to professional progress earning credit hours of municipal regime municipal training through the municipal establishment Institute at the Carl Benson Institute of Administration and was elected to serve as district president appointed to the board of directors to the board of directors to the Georgia Municipal Association because knowledge and leadership matter My provision began long before I was elected serving in volunteer leadership roles in our schools as a youth coach and a Scout leader for more than two decades I love this city and I ve devoted much of my adult life to making it the best it can be Together we ve made real progress and with your endorsement I ll continue providing experienced leadership and proven results for Dunwoody s future Thank you Bob Fiscella I ve got the first question and it s kind of a view from feet Since we ve become a city in in your opinion what has the city council done right What has the council done wrong Or list the issues that you feel we need to address after years Tom Lambert District Post Oh yeah sure So years we re kind of beyond the toddler phase and starting to kind of walk on our own and take big efforts as a city And I think it s time to move on from from the toddler phase and be stronger as a city I think city council has done a good job I think we ve been very responsive to our residents I think that s where everything starts for me My priority consistently starts with with what the residents want and the conversations I have with our public every single day And so I think we ve done we ve delivered services We ve kept the lowest tax rate in all of DeKalb County by delivering increased services to our residents Right now the city s finances have never been stronger and with our police department I m incredibly proud of them You know I give all the credit in the world to our brave men and women that serve on the police department but our role as city council has been giving them giving them the guidance they need to be triumphant in their jobs and we have given salary increases to make sure that we re recruiting and retaining the best police officers and we ve also invested heavily in hardware and those results those investments have paid dividends Our crime numbers have been steadily declining for the past two years and we re on pace in to have the lowest crime numbers in our city s history But we also need to invest in neighborhood spaces as well You know one of the big things I heard when I first got on council was you know I m tired of going to Roswell and I m tired of going to Brookhaven or Alpharetta And that was the impetus behind creating the entertainment district because basically that created the situation the catalyst for new restaurants and entertainment destinations to come to the city And we ve seen millions of dollars in private capital into citizens spaces as a effect I also am very proud of what we ve done in our parks like Brook Run If anyone was at the Groovin on the Green concert a couple weeks ago that was amazing Over residents out there It was a lot of fun and that s what really I think our job is It s about creating population and building our public and building things that we re proud of Rob Price District Post All right so question is what did we do right and what did we do wrong So I think the time you have to keep in mind time when you re answering this So when the city first started we were focused on the basics Get the police up get the roads completely started paving just kind of catch up to a lot of neglect And I think now we have certainly reached the point where we are caught up and we can start doing what I call the extras We can start putting effort and funds into arts and practices in the parks into the amenities that make the city a better place to be So I wouldn t say that I think any councils have done anything wrong I just think the requirements have changed over time One area where I think we need to focus more is anticipating change And I ll give a good example of this I think about the Georgetown area We don t in the present have any plans for that but it was developed in the s It s going to be redeveloped We need to think about what is that going to look like I have been pushing and we are doing this this year a small area plan that will do just that So I think kind of anticipating change for the future is key because change is going to come whether we re here for it or not Another area where I think we need to focus is on what I call the transition zones So Dunwoody is kind of like two cities right We ve got Perimeter which is kind of our urban downtown and then we ve got you know the suburban areas that we all love And where those two connect is where friction seems to develop in the city So that s an area where we need to really pay attention and focus and I think that s why David DZ Ziskind District Post So since we become a city we ve done a number of things well a number of things right if you will The P s police paving parks are really I would say the reason primary reason why the city was started You know we have a wonderful police force that is as of in recent weeks back up to full strength after a little bit of decline following COVID We ve got a full strength police force We re investing in apparatus such as a drone for the police things like that So really a few proactive measures there Paving Another good thing we re seeing good stewardship of our roads taking care of paving Cities close to completing a -year paving plan to make sure all the streets are well taken care of And then our parks You know it s very intriguing because parks weren t originally part of the city when Dunwoody became a city and after a couple of years the city of Dunwoody was able to procure Brook Run and other parks from DeKalb County for an acre And of syllabus you know Brook Run is our crown jewel one of the largest in the area What we can do is better financial stewardship better job of listening better job of long-term strategic planning and really fostering trust listening to what people Want and being able to deliver on that Wendi Taylor District Post Initially we had very specific goals and we had a very very good city council who paid attention because they were members of the area and they had spent lots of effort in certainly getting opinions and making sure that they could truly have a sustainable city based on a budget of million And they had employees and now we have way more employees and the salaries are more than double what they were originally So that s a short period of time for salaries to be more than double Catherine Lautenbacher District Post I think that the city was set up nicely It was a small budget It was small in its scope and did a good job I think now when we fast forward years we want to have have it meet the requirements that we all would like to see One area is the police we are almost full of the funding that the police chief has demanded for but police chief will tell you that our police force is reactive We can respond when a crime happens We would like to get to the stage where we are proactive and that will be more police The police cost the preponderance The police cost the bulk in our budget They re valuable I feel that we need to improve the police department beyond just getting drones beyond the technical areas I think we need to get more police officers Cathy Cobbs Given the city s freeze on increasing the millage rate how do you propose to continue to offer robust services the voters expect and want without the option of raising additional tax revenue and what about the improvements in citywide investments David DZ Ziskind District Post So as we ve seen just now you know there is budget fluctuation I think it s very pivotal to get a firm handle throughout the year to have proactive budget planning and forecasting so that we know a number that at the beginning of the year is very similar to the end of the year As we ve seen this year we have a fairly crucial surplus that the city is looking at how to invest The city budget has grown quite a lot since the city first started I think the real The answer here is prioritization So we have a fixed amount and rather than looking to raise taxes I think what we do is prioritize We know what we have We know what s coming in We know values We know approximate from the commercial side of things as well as the rest of the tax base we need to prioritize with what we have and do well with what we have looking at strategic investments looking at prioritization making smart decisions not overspending on a maintenance facility at Brook Run park you know going percent over budget two and a half million We need to really prioritize and make smart investments with what we have and I believe we have sufficient to make make chosen good choices Wendi Taylor District Post Well I think our priority has been misguided In in modern years we have have not been focused on a lot of the basics that really need to be handled What has happened with the with the infrastructure is that the city now has a stormwater department and and has employees but we charge the city charges residents for stormwater repairs that are a stormwater system in front of their property or in within their property even if it was caused by something upstream or failing system that was put in well before they bought the house So that is to me a really egregious mistake on the part of the city changing that guidelines The other thing too is that we have had clear message from voters that a lot of the projects that were in the covered by the million referendum in and was soundly rejected by by citizens that a lot of those projects they right now the city council is really trying to find options to get ahead and do those projects despite them not being approved Rob Price District Post So one factor to keep in mind with this is that residential property taxes make up about seven percent of the total city budget so they re an critical part but they re not the major part So to me we need to focus on emerging the other parts of our budget that we do have the ability to try to grow So for me that s economic expansion and the city has made a lot of strides in this area Lately we have our Edge City plan which really focuses on how the perimeter will develop That s kind of our economic engine We just finished a comprehensive plan that will help guide businesses that might want to come in to let them know where their particular operation might best fit I think we do a good job And I personally have tried to do as much as I can to patronage local businesses in the Chamber of Commerce to make businesses feel welcome and to help smooth and address any issues or problems they re facing I think it s also key to invest in our commercial nodes I ll give a great example of this We re looking at the Village Spanning project right now That s a nice streetscape improvement for the village which should improve the look of the area the walkability and the ability to move around in that area and honestly the ability for traffic to get through that area more expeditiously And I think if we focus on quality-of-life issues if we make this a place where people want to work and live then our market system will thrive and we ll be just fine in terms of our revenues Catherine Lautenbacher District Post I think we know that we pay very small amount in taxes very small in city taxes So where does the revenue come from We can look at the business taxes If we want to bring businesses to this district we need to build trails I m going to say trails but I really mean sidewalks People need to be able to work and then walk to a mall walk to shops walk to restaurants It s connectivity that is the key to financial success for us for economic evolution the businesses moving in are only interested in areas in which they have their workers they can walk So that is a very key piece I would say that we have plans We have trail plans we have park plans We have road infrastructure plans We re going to just keep doing it doing it slowly but keep doing it Tom Lambert District Post The city does a lot with a little and we ve done a lot and that s not an accident We have very strong fiscal management tools in place and we re very responsive to the requirements of the city and prioritizing those and directing funding to that One thing to understand that s major about our city funding is that not all money is the same Funding is basically in silos Our general operating budget we can use that money on anything SPLOST is dedicated that it can only go to transportation and police by state law that s mandated and a little tiny bit to maintenance Our hotel-motel tax can only go to tourism generation in the Perimeter area And you know my opponent mentioned stormwater that s a utility and that all the funds that are raised in the stormwater utility have to go directly to stormwater and we recognize we have a backlog We don t get a lot of money in that stormwater utility When we received our ARPA funding from the federal regime we received million and we dedicated million of that catching up on our stormwater backlog So the city is aware of that and we re putting our money to good use and trying to prioritize where that s going and where the greatest need is and we ve inevitably done that And so moving forward really Rob mentioned economic progress I think that s critical One of the reasons our budget s growing is because our tax status has grown and one of the reasons our tax status is growing is because we ve invested a lot into economic growth And I believe it s really demanding to convince outside people to invest in your region if you re not willing to invest in yourselves and so we need to focus on projects that increase quality of life and economic progress for our citizens Bob Fiscella At the city s retreat in March there was discussions on increasing city revenue amid growing operational cost and with inflation Since the city s tax millage rate is already capped it was disclosed that agents were considering the creation of a special tax district to help fund general safety thus bypassing a vote by the citizens which was not the intent of the city s founding fathers My question is if elected or re elected would you consider raising funds through creation of a special tax district Why or why not Rob Price District Post So I m going to spend part of this answer explaining special tax districts The establishment of a special tax district does not establish a tax so you can create that without putting a tax in The second is unless you create a new tax revenue source you can t fund that So if it was going to be paid for by residential property taxes we still can t increase the residential property tax as described in the city charter even if we split it between residential property taxes and a special tax district One reason I like the special tax district is because if we put our community safety expenses into that and we had particular council down the road requirements to raise funds they can say the funds will be raised specifically for populace safety for an extra ambulance for police So you basically carve out the portion of your tax revenue that you use for that purpose So it indeed provides to me greater clarity on what your taxes are being spent on If a council necessities to do a tax increase down the road We are fortunate in that we had a really good year I don t think we re going to need it I don t think the next council will need to worry about doing a any kind of tax increase or trying to put anything before the voters but creation of a special tax district does not in and of itself create a tax We would still have to have a vote to create a new tax So that s I think a little bit of a confusion on that issue Tom Lambert District Post So I ll start off to write off and say and I ve announced this before I don t promotion violating the charter and raising above the millage cap I more importantly I don t think there s a reason to you know the city we all remember what happened five years ago COVID came and shut down the world and there was impacts to the global financial sector and to the office markets and we got into very hyper conservative mode and we tightened the belt strap as tight as it could go because we weren t certain what was going to happen to the world And there was a lot of concern within the society about the city s there was dialog about the city s finances are in ruins and the sky was falling But if you remember I was the one person standing up at all the meetings and saying Our city finances are strong And I wasn t just saying that a blind optimism I was saying that because I dug deep into our financials and I understood the realm and I understand where it was going And so I don t think there s a need to do that Now at the retreat there was a discussion And just you know the retreat is a strategic planning session And so I don t think when you re when you re planning that you should take anything off the table You should listen and hear everything But I didn t think it was anything that was going to be necessary for the city now or in the future looking way down the road there if the citizens are looking for additional services we will have to figure out how to fund it If for selected reason that we want to expand our police force or add a fire department we re going to have to figure out a way to pay for those things I m not suggesting we do those the fire department right now but those are situations where we have to get additional revenue and then we re gonna have to have that discussion But if we do I promotion doing it in a population fashion whether the residents vote on that whether or not we move forward with that Catherine Lautenbacher District Post I think I agree with Rob that the special tax district would give us money that could be targeted It could be targeted to police and police vehicles and police officers and police innovation all of that that could lower the rate at which the other taxes are levied on the citizens I think that s a good idea I think it s a fair idea and I think it s central to fund the police Wendi Taylor District Post I don t think it s a tax challenge I think it s a spending issue I really think we should not violate that upper middle mileage rate And Mr Lambert says he wants to take it even further And we just had the rate raised to which was the max allowed by the charter into and that was after then the bond referendum which would have allowed a whole lot more debt we have right now We have point million in debt and I think that we shouldn t have that in debt We should focus on the basics get rid of debt and indeed not not go to big projects like the betrayals which is so oversold so oversold There is I mean miles of foot wide concrete slabs beside roads that people I mean the ones that are built already are not even being used This is a ridiculous over spend and it was inspired by developers who sold it to this to city staff who sold it to city council This is not representing what people in I know District want We have loads of places where we will be so much we will have to give up so much in order to have those paths And it s just not fair David DZ Ziskind District Post The question was Do I promotion city council creating a special task tax district No that s that s a simple path to a future tax increase controlled by city council As a project manager I manage projects that are in the hundreds of millions of dollars If you want to allocate a certain amount of money to police to other things you do that within the budget process and you allocate those things for those purposes City council s job is prioritizing spending within the existing budget We need to rebuild trust as we saw through the failed bond referendum citizens by to percent or so voted that down They did not trust the city to take that additional money and spend it in the way that they thought was appropriate So city council s job is to spend within the existing budget if there requirements to be an existing source of revenue If we feel so strongly that we cannot control existing spending But again let s look at the number of full-time employees we ve added outside of police officers outside of community safety So we now have deputy directors of all departments We have assistants In several cases the administrative or the executive assistant has an administrative assistant So we just need to prioritize our spending and spend it on smart things that citizens want Cathy Cobbs In a bond referendum for parks and trails was voted down by a wide margin A large number of feel that if the question of funding parks on the trails were separated the parks would have had been embraced and the trails voted down on their own In the present day except for the decision to spend million building out Homecoming Park we have two pieces of relatively vacant land and unfunded projects at established parks If you had to do it over again would your stance be different on how to approach a similar referendum and should we take another shot at it Why or why not Wendi Taylor District Post I think the voters spoke the voters spoke and we should not ever consider going against the voters And I think this current city council in years past at least countless of the members of it have have been trying to work around with the vote I do agree that there were a few good good things in that in on that list of projects But the predicament was is that the and that the city council our members Mr Lambert and others have have literally admitted that they they were they were trying to get the money and then genuinely they were going to figure out and change They had the power to change which of those projects would veritably be implemented So it basically took the the they were going to choose what they demanded their pet projects and and not what what the voters requested And I think a whole lot of voters did not trust the city council to go to put them in in debt million over years I believe it was and there is no no reason that we need to revisit this at all I mean they spoke and that project which was sold to to the city basically it s a developer s dream I mean think of all of the people all the companies that are going to profit It s a cash cow for them and it s a boondoggle Catherine Lautenbacher District Post Thank you The I not recommend another bond referendum for the voters I feel we ve we ve passed that point That s two bond referendums that have been denied by the citizens That s fine I feel we are going to build out these parks this year We should almost fully well this in this coming year the million will be devoted fully to Homecoming Park which would almost thoroughly build that out We will look at what shows up for the next year because it s Wildcat Park in my district that I d like to build up but I ll wait I will wait And I think that s that s a prudent way to go At this point the bond referendum was about the bond The question wasn t do you want trails The question wasn t do you want parks The question was do you want the bond And that voters mentioned No that s fine We can build out trails We can improve the sidewalks at a much slower rate I think that when we build on Mount Vernon it won t be a -foot sidewalk it ll be a six-foot sidewalk or an eight-foot sidewalk and that will make a large difference to people who have to traverse that road We can do this We re going to do it slowly Tom Lambert District Post I think it s essential we talk about the bond to talk about where it originated and it originated with a project list that was put together from a citizen s committee A lot of those people are in the room tonight definitely So it became so we had a large list of capital a wish list and we convened a citizens committee that prioritize those projects and kind of declared here are the things we want the city to focus on So we took that list we evaluated it but obviously we did not have the money available to do that so we proposed a bond referendum to pay for constructing those projects And it s not as crazy an idea as a lot of people have announced And over percent of local governing body projects nationwide are funded with municipal bonds And there s a reason for that It s the greater part cost effective way to do it You spread the cost out over all over generations who are going to be utilizing those those amenities the interest rates and it s tax free and it s a cheaper way to do it if you try to save up the money building cost inflation is far greater than what you would have paid in inflation But the bond failed and and we ve accepted those the results of that vote No one s ever tried to say anything otherwise we accept it and we move on I still think there s a demand in the society for those amenities and so it s our challenge to figure out how to fund that We re still moving forward as has been mentioned we ve put various of our surplus money to work and we re going to focus on building Homecoming Park and we ll move on to the other parks as we move forward with available funding that comes there It s going to take a longer to get there but we ll do our best to deliver what the what the citizens want David DZ Ziskind District Post in my opening report I noted our city deserves leadership that listen listens The bond failed because of council The bond failed because of the way it was put together and ultimately it was a referendum on trust Do the citizens trust the executive the City Council to spend money in a way that they think is prudent This million parks and trails bond failed because there wasn t that trust There wasn t that cohesive agreement on what projects we want to do how to set them up and keep them not anti parks and not anti trails I ve got three young kids including the one at Peachtree -year-old who enjoys going up and down Mount Vernon And yes I would like to see improvements there And yes I would like to see improvements to our parks We have to approach this by prioritizing what we do rebuild that trust decide what projects we want to go after and go after them in a smart way We need to think about for example Homecoming Park you know that was bought in anticipation of the bond referendum going forward Was there contingency planning if that did not go forward What would be done there What are the issues with for example storm water management water management on that parcel as well as Village Mill which it backs up to So we need to look at this We need to prioritize and we need to approach the spend smartly Rob Price District Post All right Well a lot of stuff s already been noted I think I ll just kind of start off with the vote in is done to me There s no reason to revisit that issue The residents explained they did not want to spend extra I m not going to ask them to spend extra again with another bond asking So then the question is you know what do we do now Tom mentioned the citizens group We still have that list of priority projects To me we work through those A number of people have talked about building out Homecoming Park Obviously we ll do that and move on to Wildcat in terms of trails let s focus those where there is high use and high need right now and where we can get other people s money And a great example of that is in the Perimeter where the perimeter Society Improvement District will pay a lot of the cost of these of these projects where we can get particular grant money and while we re able to use very little city money So you know we ll keep working at a slower pace to get these projects that were identified by the citizen s committee put in I m honestly in favor of acquiring parkland new parkland the city has very little available space even if a piece of land has to sit for years and a later city council can do something We re vastly underserved by parkland especially over on that you know something else we can work with private entities on what are called POPs private privately owned community spaces so places where people can hang out Ashford lane is a great spot an example of this Bob Fiscella Last month city council unanimously voted to deny a rezoning application for an affordable senior housing project on the property that is now occupied by LifeSouth iI there a more appropriate location for affordable housing in Dunwoody and would you be in favor of such a project even if it was rental units Tom Lambert District Post So affordable housing is a challenge regional challenge and I think Dunwoody answers need to fit done what he necessities We re already one of the largest part dense cities in the entire state of Georgia So density really isn t the answer And that was the reason I voted no on that project It was far too dense for where it was going So you know to say specifically I think you know the sphere will will dictate what comes to us and what you know and what doesn t and then what each project is evaluated on its own It s you can t pre judge I mean in the state of Georgia we are a land property owners property rights state our courts and our legislature and the mayor and council act as a judge and jury Zoning hearings are quasi-judicial So for me to come out ahead of a hearing and say I m going to deny that would kind of be like a judge coming up before a capital situation and saying that guy s guilty I m going to throw the book at him So every every incident requirements to be evaluated on his own and that s what I ve done I pour myself into all of our rezoning cases I m very very critical of them to make sure that they are consistent with the city s vision and what we want to be and and I have a proven record of voting no on a lot of zoning cases that were exclusively wrong for the city whether they were too dense where they were the wrong thing in the wrong place There s several examples that I could point to but I don t think I can get to them in eight seconds So but yeah so we need to continue what s doing what s best for Dunwoody Catherine Lautenbacher District Post I think as Tom pointed out we have a very dense city It ll be rebuilds tear downs We in meeting we did vote yes on senior housing that will be down toward the mall We don t have the best the best options What I can say is that with our comprehensive plan we did which we just passed we have identified transition areas So in district one that ll be between my house and the Dunwoody Village On Roberts Road we have declared you can have a single-family home or a duplex or a quad flex We can increase the housing that way making smaller houses that are more affordable for seniors for school workers things like that So it s a hard challenge that is a response that we have come up with We are in general for affordable housing But it won t be easy Rob Price District Post I ll address the affordable housing part first and then just talk housing in general after that So I think land prices in the city kind of preclude a lot of affordable housing options So to me one of the the majority crucial things to do is to protect the existing affordable housing that we have a lot of that is apartment buildings over on that we do regular code enforcement to make sure that those buildings are maintained so that the residents that live there have safe places to live The city is percent apartments We are heavy with apartments We are heavy with single-family homes We re missing what is called the missing middle which is town homes condos quadplexes places where a young couple or a an empty nester might want to live So to me that is the focus of housing in the city that we should be looking at It touches on the transition zones that Catherine mentioned also down on the Perimeter area I think a project that included a few of that but that also had apartments if it was down near MARTA or a transportation node could be considered But I think we need to focus on the housing that we need in the city If you talk to the Atlanta Regional Commission they ll tell you build whatever housing is suitable for your neighborhood just any number or any level of housing will help the housing issue in the whole metro area if we have more housing stock that might make housing more affordable in other areas So anyway that s I ve kind of rambled a bit on that but that s kind of my thoughts David DZ Ziskind District Post Affordable housing is an issue rental units aren t going to solve that They ll make money for the apartment owners and we don t need any more apartment that was one of the key reasons why we broke away from the cab and we re indeed seeing I think the last to be done with or the DeKalb approved apartments being built out now But affordable housing is an issue We need to apply systems-level thinking to this So if we re looking for quote unquote affordable housing what are we doing to have that near transit increase job access reduce parking requirements things like that Land is expensive right So be close to be close to transit where you can reduce the number of cars Again on this systems-level thinking we need to think about infrastructure We need to think about everything that s already strained We need to think about our roads that are strained utility systems that are strained So adding density is only going to increase the challenge there We do need to protect existing homes existing properties There are opportunities to build out B ut again we need to do this in a in a smart manner in a thoughtful manner in a you know planning with this systems level mentality we also need to consider you know retirees and seniors who may want to move out of their existing homes into a townhome or something where they can still enjoy Dunwoody but not have as much space to to work with Thank you And Wendy Wendi Taylor District Post Mr Lambert was for the Dominion complex that would be was absolutely opposed by everybody that came to speak at the at the city council meetings that discussed it and it wasn t until the meeting two two months ago where after I had declared and Mr Ziskin had declared his candidacy for city council that they had opposition and recognized that hey they better do what people in District demanded which was not to have that Dominion complex right there because there were so multiple issues with the plan and it was not what was the best interest of any of any of Dunwoody What was enthralling though is the right after that the comprehensive plan was being worked on and put together and finalized for approval by the city council Well what happened was is city staff went ahead and after having gone through the charade of getting all sorts of input from citizens about what they sought in these different character areas across the city what happened was is that they talked to developers Well a developer is what they explained And I m wondering if it was a consolation prize for Dominion who lost this project which had been promised to them by city staff at least the zoning changes and the waivers of construction requirements were promised anyway it got tossed to District The post Dunwoody City Council candidates share visions for city s future appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta