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News & Events |
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Neighborhood Notes -
Potential Rezoning of Les Jardins Apartments on Henderson Mill Road |
4/14/09 Board of Commissioners Zoning Agenda/Minutes - recommended denial
of application. |
N.1 LP-09-15364 DEFERRED TO APRIL 14, 2009; DECISION ONLY
Commission District: 1 Super District: 7
18-285-03-004
Application of Steve Beltran to amend the Comprehensive Land Use Plan from
Suburban (SUB) to Town Center (TC). The property is located on the south
side of Henderson Mill Road, approximately 81 feet east of Interstate-285,
at 3207 and 3217 Henderson Mill Road. The property has approximately 249
feet of frontage along Henderson Mill Road and contains 12.83 acres.
N.2 Z-09-15363 DEFERRED TO APRIL 14, 2009; DECISION ONLY Commission
District: 1 Super District: 7
18-285-03-004
Application of Steve Beltran to rezone property from the RM-100
(Multi-Family Residential) District to the RM-75 (Multi-Family Residential)
District for the purpose of increasing the number of units in the existing
buildings of the Les Jardins multi-family development from 160 to 224 units.
The property is located on the south side of Henderson Mill Road,
approximately 81 feet east of Interstate 285, at 3207 and 3217 Henderson
Mill Road. The property has approximately 249 feet of frontage on Henderson
Mill Road and contains 12.83 acres. |
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DeKalb County Public Hearings
Scheduled
Community Council Meeting
Tuesday, 2/17/09
Click here for county sign.
Planning Commission
Tuesday, 3/3/09
Board of Commissioners
Tuesday, 3/24/09
Click here for county sign. |
Initial Notice
From: Nottaway Watch
Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 12:02 AM
To: Steve Schultz
Subject: Rezoning of Les Jardin Apartments
Rezoning of Les Jardin Apartments:
There will be a meeting about the rezoning of Les Jardin apartments this
Wednesday, January
7. It is to be held at the Les Jardin apartment complex at 7:00 p.m.
In December the owner of the property met with many community folks
outlining his plans to update Les Jardin apartments on Henderson Mill Rd.
He is looking to keep all the same buildings on the property but to cut
the current 2200 sf units in half. This will increase the density and
update the property.
This meeting is to present a detailed plan on how he would like to change
his zoning and address the concerns of neighboring communities.
Other news:
This week the DeKalb Police will be rolling out crimemapping.com. This
will allow you to get all the local crime facts of our community from the
internet.
Please forward to anyone that you might think would be interested in this
meeting.
Steve Schultz
~~~
Thanks to Kathleen (Northcrest
neighborhood) and Jannean (Empire Square neighborhood) for bringing this
information to the attention of the hendersonroad.com readers. Original
email distributed by Steve from Nottaway Watch. |
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Correspondence with Board of
Commissioners
From: A Henderson Road neighbor (name removed to respect
privacy)
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 2:26 PM
To: Stokes, Connie; May, Lee; Johnson, Larry L.; McBride, Nancy J.;
Rader, Jeff; Gannon, Kathie; ssutton@co.dekalb.ga.us
Subject: Rezoning/Increasing No. of Unit in Les Jardin Apartments
Please do not allow rezoning/increasing of number of Units in Les Jardin
Apartments located on Henderson Mill Road , 30341. This area is
already overcrowded with construction of new and existing apartments and
condomiums in this and the surrounding area (Northlake, Embry Hills, Mercer
University Blvd. & along I-85/Chamblee-Tucker Rd.) Traffic is very
congested with commuters as well as local traffic. When accidents
occur on I-285 and I-85, Henderson Mill Road, Henderson Road, Mercer
University Blvd., Chamblee-Tucker Road, Northcrest, Pleasantdale become
grid-locked with drivers who normally use the Interstate Highways trying to
reach their destinations. Even at normal school and commute hours,
these roads are at a stand-still now . There are several huge residential
projects that are almost completed, but not yet occupied that will add to
this congestion. We DO NOT need any more congestion in this area on
the roads or in the schools.
Thank you very much.
From: Gannon, Kathie
To: A Henderson Road neighbor (name removed to respect privacy)
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 1:20 PM
Subject: RE: Rezoning/Increasing No. of Unit in Les Jardin
Apartments
At this point the developer is applying to the county to make changes. His
proposal will have to go through the zoning process which entails going
before the Community council, the planning commission and then the Board of
Commissioners for approval. If he in fact has filed an application, his
project will be on the March calendar. I don’t have any information on this
project yet.
But I encourage you to alert your home owners association and attend the
meetings. Thank you for interest and involvement in your County.
Regards,
Becky in the office of Commissioner Kathie Gannon
404-371-4909
~~~
If you have comments or questions for the Board of Commissioners and CEO,
their contact information is available on their websites:
http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/boc/contact.html
and
http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/ceo.htm |
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1/7/09 Les Jardins/Community
meeting notes (by Nestor Young)
Subject: Update on the Les Jardin Apartments
Greetings,
This is my report on the meeting I attended tonight (Wednesday, January 7)
concerning the redevelopment of the Les Jardin Apartments located on
Henderson Mill Road, next to I-285. I will give you some background on the
property, describe the redevelopment plan, and end with my thoughts.
The meeting lasted about an hour and there were about 20 people attending.
The meeting was hosted by representatives of the company who own the
property and their zoning attorney. No Dekalb County representatives,
or elected officials attended. The redevelopment of the property is in the
initial stages of planning. An informal meeting was held recently with the
county zoning staff, but no formal zoning applications or building plans
have been filed yet.
Background
-
The apartments
were built in 1972.
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There are
currently 160 units (apartments), broken down as follows: One Bedroom =
1; Two Bedroom = 41; Three Bedroom (1,785 square feet) = 98; Four Bedroom
(2,200 square feet) = 20.
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Total average
square feet = 1,800.
-
There is
currently a 35% to 40% turnover rate, and it is currently 90% occupied.
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There is
currently about 2 parking spaces per unit.
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There are
about 160 children living there now. Elementary school aged children
attend Pleasentdale Elementary, middle school aged attend Henderson
Middle, and high school aged attend Lakeside High.
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Crime within
the property over the last four years has been largely insignificant.
-
The property
was purchase by the current owner about four years ago, and the company
who owns it is called
TVO
North America. They own and operate apartment buildings
throughout the country. Here is their web site:
http://www.tvogroupe.com/tvo_na.html
-
Here is the
web site for the property:
http://www.lesjardinsapartmenthomes.com/
The Redevelopment Plan
-
The plan is to
divide the large four-bedroom and some three bedroom units into smaller
two-bedroom units. They said the total number of bedrooms within the
complex will remain the same. They only intend to reconfigure the larger
units. They said that since the total number of bedrooms will not
increase, the total capacity of the property will not increase.
-
The planned
units break down as follows: One Bedroom = 45; Two Bedrooms = 125; Three
Bedrooms = 54; Four Bedrooms = 0. The total number of apartments will be
224.
-
Although they
did not specifically mention how much money they plan to spend on
renovations, they did mention it will be several million dollars.
-
In addition to
the interior renovations, they mentioned that the exterior will also get a
make over, including new roof, paint, gutters, and landscaping.
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The rezoning
application will request a change from 12 units per acre to 17 units per
acre.
-
The rental
rates will increase by about $200 on average. The proposed rental rates
are as follows: one bedroom = $700 to $750; two bedroom = $800 to $900;
three bedrooms = $1,200.
-
The average
square foot per unit will decrease from 1,800 sq. ft. to 1,200 sq. ft.
The average cost of the unit will increase from $0.54/sf to $0.70/sf.
-
Their overall
goal is to market the property to professionals with higher incomes than
the current resident demographic. In order to qualify for a lease, they
require the renter to make three times the monthly rent, pass a credit
check and criminal background check.
-
Overall
parking will only increase by a few dozen spaces. No new parking areas
will be constructed -- only existing space will be utilized more
efficiently.
-
No Section 8
housing is planned.
My Thoughts
Initially when I first heard that they were planning to create smaller
units, I immediately thought that the population density will increase
substantially and therefore negatively impact our community in many ways.
After carefully listening to their plan, I now think the overall impact to
the community will not be too significant. The number of cars may increase
a little. An increase in the number of children may possibly not occur
because they are reducing the size of the units and making them a little
more expensive. Because of the higher rent and their high qualification
standards, the criminal element may be discouraged from living there.
My initial impression of this company seems to be that they genuinely desire
to improve their property and have a beneficial impact on the local
community. As a side note, they mentioned that they also own the apartment
complex next to Henderson Middle School (on the north side of the school).
They mentioned that they are investing $5 million into renovations there
also. Their plan for that property is the same: fix it up and raise the
rent. They seemed to be very proud of their accomplishments there so far.
They haven't completed all of the renovations yet, but will gladly show you
a finished unit if you're interested (I'm going on Friday to see it).
Generally, it seems that this company is interested in investing in this
community.
In summary, there are two alternatives for the Les Jardin Apartments:
maintain the property as-is, with no improvements; or, invest several
million dollars in renovations that may potentially have a modest impact on
our roads and schools. I now believe that this community will be better
served by renovating this 37 year old property. I was told that their 35 to
40 percent turnover rate is low for an apartment complex like theirs. This
is a good indication that their renters are stable and are community minded
people. This company didn't have to have this meeting, but by doing so,
they showed that they operate in good faith. They plan to meet with
Commissioner Boyer soon to discuss their plan.
Let me know what you think, or send me an email if you have any questions.
If interested I can give you contact information for the representatives of
the company at the meeting tonight.
Sincerely,
Nestor Young
Neighborhood Crime Watch Coordinator
~~~
Thanks to Pat (Embry Hills neighborhood) for
sharing this information with the hendersonroad.com readers.
Original email distributed by Nestor. |
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