The board of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association is opposing two controversial provisions in a proposed rewrite of the city’s zoning and building codes.
Board members on Aug. 4 voted to oppose a proposal to allow the Dunwoody City Council to hear required zoning variances for a project as part of a rezoning package. The variances now are considered by the city Zoning Board of Appeals after the zoning is approved.
The DHA board also sided against a proposal to allow operators of home-based businesses to bring customers to their homes without a Special Land Use Permit.
Dunwoody city officials are considering an extensive revision of the city’s zoning and building codes. Dunwoody’s present codes were copied from DeKalb County when the city was creaed, city staff members say, and the rewrite is intended to make the codes reflect the needs and opinion of Dunwoody residents.
Proposed revisions to the code have been debated by several city commissions and a citizens’ “sounding board.” Dunwoody City Council is scheduled to debate the revisions Aug. 5, in a meeting set to begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 41 Perimeter Center East.
DHA board member Bob Lundsten called the proposed change in the way the city handles zoning variances “dangerous.” Some city officials have argued the processes should be combined to make the consideration of property zonings more efficient. But Lundsten argued that two different groups should consider the zoning and then the variances.
“To allow one group – and I’ve seen it happen – to get all the razzmatazz [from a developer] about building the Taj Mahal and we up with a five-story parking deck in the middle of the project…” he said. “You get all wrapped up with the razzmatazz of development that you miss the technical [concerns].”