Avondale Estates, GA — Toll Brothers is building 33 townhomes in Avondale Estates and the project is near completion. The Avondale Estates City Commission, at its July 26 meeting, discussed the final plat and infrastructure for the project.
The project is located at 3039 Wells Street. The city commission will vote at its next regular meeting to accept the final plat.
Accepting the plat and infrastructure means the developer has constructed the streets and stormwater infrastructure to the city’s requirements and the city will now be responsible for the infrastructure. Avondale Estates will also be providing services to the townhomes.
“Our responsibilities are to make sure that the final plat matches the preliminary plat and the ordinance spells out other areas and other things the plat must include,” Assistant City Manager Shannon Powell said. “We have gone through that and are confirming all of those things look good. We’re on the right track. The county has already done a preliminary review. We expect them to have their stamp of approval as well.”
The townhomes will start in the high $500,000s. The development includes two floor plans – Hillmont and Kourtney. Each floor plan is 2,048 square feet or more across three stories, according to Urbanize Atlanta. All the units will have three or four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and a two-car garage.
“Henley by Toll Brothers offers luxury, low-maintenance living in a new townhome community near downtown Decatur in Avondale Estates, GA, providing convenient access to arts, music, restaurants, and shopping in addition to major roadways,” the Toll Brothers website states.
The development will front a portion of the Stone Mountain Trail, a multi-use greenway the PATH Foundation established to connect downtown Atlanta and DeKalb County. The townhomes will be zoned for Avondale Elementary School and Druid Hills middle and high schools.
“These spacious home designs offer flexibility for any lifestyle, while sophisticated finishes provide the comforts of luxury,” the website states. “This community is centered around beautiful open green space and extends access to the Stone Mountain Trail, perfect for outdoor recreation.”
Some of the commissioners thanked Toll Brothers for building the townhomes. Mayor Jonathan Elmore also thanked the developer for saving the project, as Toll Brothers had taken it over ownership from another developer.
In other business:
– The city commission continued discussing the land disturbance permit ordinance that aims to tighten up the city’s current requirements and update the requirements for when a land disturbance permit is needed.
The city’s zoning code sets a standard requirement for how much of a residential property one could fill and how much could be left open. But the city has seen an increase in stormwater runoff that’s impacting private property and the city’s stormwater infrastructure. City staff is aiming to tighten up the land disturbance permitting process and tighten up the guidelines.
The ordinance outlines situations where a land disturbance permit would be required, which includes any grading, building a new structure or addition, adding 1,000 square feet or more of impervious surface, adding impervious surface when structures exceed the maximum lot coverage, and land disturbance of 5,000 square feet of land.
The ordinance also provides for exemptions for home gardening or landscaping projects, grading or land disturbance on public property by the city, work on transportation projects, building a shed, and the maintenance or improvement of an existing structure that does not involve land disturbance or adding an impervious surface.
Additionally, the ordinance creates a minor land disturbance permit for grading an area of any size to address drainage and erosion control.
To view the documents attached to the agenda, click here.
The city commission will hold the first reading of the ordinance at its next regular meeting.
– Mauldin and Jenkins gave the city a clean opinion of its finances in its 2022 financial audit.
– The city has put together a review panel that is assisting the police department with reviewing and revising the police policy manual. The panel is made up of community members and city staff. The panel held its first meeting last week.
“We’re not announcing the members of that panel for reasons such that they not receive any pressure from other community members potentially,” City Manager Patrick Bryant said. “We’re trying to remove all bias from the process. However, we do have a real nice, diverse, robust group of community stakeholders that are participating on this panel.”
Over the coming months, the panel will be reviewing policies. The panel will meet each week and take on a new policy during each meeting.
The Avondale Estates City Commission will meet next on Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 21 N. Avondale Plaza.
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