Brookhaven residents turn out to look over city’s plans

More than 70 people headed to Brookhaven City Hall on July 21 to chat with city officials and planners about the city’s future.
“I just want to see where the city’s going,” resident David Ewing said. “I’m new to the neighborhood and want to see where it’s been and where it’s going.”
Ewing, who said he moved to Brookhaven about nine months ago, was impressed with the work the city’s planners had done and presented during an open house in the City Council chambers.
“A lot of thought has gone into it,” he said. “People’s concerns, they’re really taking them in. That’s the appearance, anyway.”
City officials set up 22 display boards on easels that illustrated how the proposed new city master plan and transportation plan were shaping up. Residents added Post-It Notes to the boards or notes on comment sheets that called for everything from fewer curb cuts on Peachtree Road to rethinking the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry roads.
The planners divided the city into 13 neighborhoods, called “character areas.” They stretched from Perimeter Center in the north to the Buford Highway Corridor in the south and included the Lakes District around Murphey-Candler and Silver lakes, Briarwood Park and Lynwood Park.
The proposed vision statement for the city calls for a future in which Brookhaven is a “walkable, urban community that preserves its unique character and history.”
Mayor J. Max Davis welcomed the turnout. “It’s wonderful,” Davis said. “I’m thrilled we have this many … citizens engaged in what the future of Brookhaven will look like. This is exactly what we envisioned.”