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In order to insure the preservation of the Castleberry Hill Neighborhood, and all that is here, and all that will be developed, the ordinance that we create will serve as our guide.
I'll start with reflecting over the past years, the public safety problems that we have encountered, and the thoughts we all agreed on to fix the problems. There is too much alcohol sales in the hood that keeps the bad element in the area.
Hence, the prohibition of additional package stores was agreed on. Now we can't have our cake and eat it too. We need retail and cafe's and restrauants way before we may ever get to have a Fine Wine and Cheese Shop....And I'm not against this type of store, but first things first.
Lets take the steps necessary to get this thing started and not put road blocks up before we even get our keys in the ignition...
Think about the whole picture of the Neighborhood. What are we wanting, that we don't have now, that would make our neighborhood more livable and likeable.
Be constructive with your comments.
Thank you.
By Jerry Hoy
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re: Landmark Zoning Criteria
I'm not sure what the overall purpose of this thread is (I missed Monday's meeting), but I thought I would comment on the assertion that the problem is not with alcohol sales in general, but with the type of alcohol sales, and the type of store that sells them. For instance, we definitely don't need any more of those little places on MLK that are nothing but a hole in the wall with quarts and tall-boys of malt liquor, pints of cheap gin, and bottles of bad fruit-flavored wine. These are the favored drinks of the vagrants and scumbags, and the type of stores that carry that stuff are obviously trying to attract that clientelle. If they were not, they would not carry such a large selection of that garbage, and they would hire a security guard to keep the scumbags from hanging around.
However, I would love to have a place in the neighborhood where I could get a decent six pack of beer (instead of all the corporate swill they carry in that new Texaco store) or a nice bottle of wine. A place like Buddy's on N. Highland would be nice. As it stands, if I want some decent beer, I've got to drive over to Ponce. But the problem with any of these kinds of stores is that they simply put a minimum wage employee behind some bullet proof glass, and then don't do anything to keep the dirtbags from hanging around out front getting drunk and panhandling every customer. I'm afraid this is going to happen to that new Texaco. Right now, you can go in there and buy something without a lot of hassle, but, since they don't do anything to discourage the vagrants from hanging out front, six months from now it could easily be like the convenience stores at or near the intersection of Monroe/Boulevard and Ponce/North. This Texaco is clearly trying to cater to vagrants since they carry several large buckets filled with tall boys of malt liquor and a whole cooler filled with that terrible fruit wine.
I don't know how you would legislate it, if that's what we're talking about here, but I submit that the problem is not inherently with alcohol sales, but rather with stores who are clearly trying to cater to the undesirable element.
Take care,
Dan
By Daniel Read
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alcohol license
Dan, I agree with yourt comments. The fact of having a decent beer/wine store would be great. There is no way at this time to create different legistration to distinguish the two types of beer stores as you described.
So, lets move onto the next type of problem in the LANDMARK ZONING criteria that is at issue.....
Heights of buildings in the neighborhood. Should there be a limit.
I say yes and let it be determined by a number and not by a factor of the existing buildings surrounding the block or area. Lets be aware that there aren't to many buildings that exist, or when new are built, that are going to have a view of something other than the street or trees that are in front of them or in back of them. The views will be from the roof tops, or the decks. So, now determine how to maintain the level so that all are happy. The answer is that you cannot make everyone happy.
I think the steering committee thought long and hard to answer this question and with two of the biggest property owners in the neighborhood on the committee, and they agreed on the proposed factors, then we must have done something right.
By Jerry Hoy
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Building Height Limit
I definitely think that there should be a limit on the height of the buildings. I don't know how to express it in actual feet and inches, but I think it should be something that keeps new buildings in line with the existing buildings. It seems that most of the buildings in our neighborhood are three or four stories. Regardless of what the actual number is, I think that we need to keep high rise buildings out of Castleberry Hill.
Jerry, I'm not sure if you have more issues that you're planning to bring up, but another one I think definitely needs to be addressed is that buildings should not be allowed to be built back from the street with parking lots in front of them. For instance, I'd love to have a CVS drug store in our neighborhood, but not if they're going to build in their standard format. Ever go to East Atlanta and see that one Florist shop that's set back from the street with a parking lot in front? Ruins the whole streetscape.
Later,
Dan
By Daniel Read
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