Minutes-Lake Claire Neighbors
Monthly Meeting: Thurs. Mar. 18, 2021
7:15 PM via Zoom
The meeting began at 7:17 with 12 members participating and 5 guests including 3 candidates for City Council District 5: Mandy Mahoney, Katie Kissel and a representative for Liliana Bakhtiari.
Guest speakers (Representatives of the City Council, and Atlanta Police Department)
Sgt. King, APD, 6th Precinct, noted that there were no significant crimes to report for Lake Claire.
Councilmember Natalyn Archibong, gave an update on the short-term rental ordinance that aims to establish a regulatory framework for governing such businesses and outlining penalties for violations with proposed changes going into effect on Sept. 1, 2021. For more information see: Legislative Reference No. 20-O-1656
LCN officers attending and reports:
Miriam Herbers, VP for Safety, Beth Grashof, VP for Zoning, Carol Holiday, VP for NPU and Planning, Pen Sherwood, VP for Fundraising, Joe Agee, President
Miriam spoke about her goal of reestablishing CPR training classes for the neighborhood as soon as the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
Pen brought up the new LCN merchandise link that is now available the LCN website for buying all kinds of different products with the Lake Claire Banner design along with other neighborhood symbols such as the “30307 not just a zip code….”, the sunflower, etc.
Joe gave the financial report: excluding the restricted Mural Funds, the LCN has a current balance of $11,461.
Announcements and current issues:
Carol gave an update on the current status of the City Council’s proposed tree ordinance that will be reviewed at the March NPU meeting. She asked for approval to make comments at the meeting about concerns regarding the proposed ordinance. The attendees concurred.
Beth Grashof gave updates on the properties located at 1585 S. Ponce de Leon (Pinebloom/old Jackson Hill Baptist Church) and at 1715 & 1723 S. Ponce de Leon.
Both projects are located in the Druid Hills Landmark District and as such approvals come from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission (UDC) rather than the Bureau of Zoning.
1585 S. Ponce backs up to the Candler Park neighborhood but may be of interest to residents of Lake Claire. 1585 S. Ponce de Leon (Pinebloom/old Jackson Hill Baptist Church): The project consists of renovating the historic house and carriage house, demolishing the non-historic church building, and constructing six buildings containing a total of eleven dwelling units. This project was heard at the March 10, 2021 meeting of the UDC and was deferred to the March 24th meeting of the
UDC. All UDC meetings are currently being held via Zoom. If you are interested in knowing more about this project go to the UDC website to read the Staff Report (listed under the March 10 the meeting) and register to attend the March 24th meeting.
1723 S. Ponce is located adjacent Lake Claire and has the potential to impact our
LCN households on Hardendorf Avenue.
1715 & 1723 S. Ponce de Leon: The owners of these two properties are seeking to develop the properties into a family compound. 1715 S. Ponce includes an historic house and a garage. 1723 S. Ponce also includes an historic house and a garage. The owners would like to renovate the two historic houses, construct a large addition to each of the historic houses, demolish both garages, and construct two additional single-family houses, a pool and a pool house with an apartment above. This project was heard at the February 24, 2021 meeting of the UDC and was deferred to the March 24th meeting of the UDC. All UDC meetings are currently being held via Zoom. If you are interested in knowing more about this project go to the UDC website to read the Staff Report listed under Public Hearings and Staff Reports (February 24th meeting), and register to attend the March 24th meeting (Upcoming and Recent Meetings). Revised documents for the project were submitted to the UDC on Thursday, March 18th but are not yet available.
Variances and zoning:
V-21-055: 2066 McLendon Avenue: Variance request for an addition to a single-family dwelling. The applicant seeks a variance to reduce the front yard setback from 35-feet to 24’-4” and to reduce the west side yard setback from 7-feet to 2’-7” for an addition to an existing single family dwelling. The application, including drawings and photographs, can be viewed on the LCN website at this link: https://lakeclaire.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/V-21-055_2066-McLendon.pdf
The variance request was approved unanimously by a vote of 12 with no abstentions.
SD-21-003: subdivision item that was deferred last month due to the City forgetting to timely submit it for the March agenda.
The request was approved by a vote of 5 to 2.
Lake Claire Neighbors meets the third Thursday of each month.
The next regular LCN meeting will be Thurs., Apr. 15, 2021
Stay informed! To receive occasional e-mails about happenings in, around and concerning Lake Claire, as well as reminders of up-coming meetings, please sign up at https://lakeclaire.org/resources/newscast-sign-up/
The meeting ended at 8:25 pm.
Submitted by Joe Agee