Board members of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association voted unanimously to oppose a plan for development of a new hotel and shops because it includes an entrance from Ashford Dunwoody Road.
DHA president Stacey Harris said the board asked developers of the Sterling Point project to abide by a 2008 agreement between the DHA and a developer that eliminated the “curb cut” onto Ashford Dunwoody.
Representatives of the current developers say the access was granted by DeKalb County in return for right-of-way, so it was attached to the property legally.
The proposed development, located at the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody and Perimeter Center Parkway North, would include an 8-story hotel, a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and shops. All the buildings face Ashford Dunwoody.
Lawyer Den Webb, representing Sterling Pointe, told members of the DHA board during their April 14 meeting that the street connection to Ashford Dunwoody would not create traffic troubles.
Businesses in the development generate traffic at different times of day, he said, and the proposed entrance to the property was in the middle of a stretch of Ashford Dunwoody as long as three football fields. The driveway was configured to allow drivers on Ashford Dunwoody to make only right turns into the development and to allow only right turns out of the development.
The Dunwoody Community Council approved the developer’s plan last month after they were advised the developer had a right to the curb cut.
But DHA board member Bob Lundsten argued the Ashford Dunwoody access had been given up during earlier efforts to develop the land and that the city did not have to restore it legally. “They do not have a curb cut, which is why they are here in front of us to try to get it back,” Lundsten said.
Lundsten argued allowing cars access to Ashford Dunwoody from the property would alter traffic patterns on one of Dunwoody’s busiest roads. “I want the hotel to come. I just don’t want them to have access to Ashford Dunwoody,” he said.