Decatur commissioners delay Arcadia/East Ponce proposal

After an unwieldy sequence of discussions and votes Monday night, Decatur commissioners deferred a proposed grocery-anchored mixeduse development that they appeared to favor two months ago.

As of now the project won’t come before the commission again until May 21.

Plans call for 289 apartments — roughly 70 percent one-bedroom and 30 percent two-bedroom — two retail buildings totaling 12,000 square feet and a 50,000-square-foot grocery long rumored to be Publix.

The project would get built on 9.78 acres between North Arcadia Drive and East Ponce de Leon Avenue. But only 1.4 acres currently lies within city limits. This translates to a total of 14 parcels, 11 outside the city.

During an early February meeting, commissioners accepted a petition to annex the 11 DeKalb parcels into the city, which if ultimately approved would assimilate the entire package into the city.

But on Monday, Commissioners Brian Smith and Scott Drake expressed reservations, with Drake appearing to oppose the project in its current form.

“This isn’t the way we do things in Decatur,” he said. “Normally we take our time. Here we have the zoning, the land use, the master plan and the annexation all bundled together. That’s too many moving parts.”

In a series of three separate votes, the land use (from light industrial to commercial/high density residential) and zoning changes (from industrial to mixed use) of the 11 DeKalb properties were approved, pending annexation. But none of the votes were unanimous, with either Drake or Drake and Smith opposing.

Deferred until May were consideration of a regulating master site plan, adoption of special exceptions for the developer and consideration of the 11 annexation petitions.

“Basically what we’re saying,” said Mayor Patti Garrett, “is that it doesn’t feel like a transit-oriented and pedestrian-oriented development (the project would be across from the Avondale MARTA Station).

“The development,” she added, “is turned more inward and not outward, which is the way we want it.”

During public comment, 13 approved of the development, many of them property owners petitioning for annexation. Four were opposed, including DeKalb County Commissioners Kathie Gannon and Jeff Rader and two representatives of the Paws Whiskers & Wags pet crematory on East Ponce.

BILL BANKS / FOR THE AJC An ancient car referenced often in Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting hovers over a junkyard that is one of 11 properties seeking annexation. The eventual plan is to turn those properties into a mixed-use development.