The Brookhaven City Council approved a $309,384 contract to prepare the City Centre Master Plan during its Sept. 8 meeting.
Out of 22 bids, the city chose HGOR, an Atlanta-based landscape architecture firm, to create a master plan for the area around the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA Station. The plan is set to be completed within a year and a half.
The City Centre Master Plan will guide future developments in the area concentrated near the MARTA station, which will be considered the city center. It includes the commercial areas on Peachtree Road, extending south near Colonial Drive, east to Conasauga Avenue and north past Osborne Road, according to the scope of the project.
City officials started to create the master plan process for the city center at their February retreat. City Centre’s spelling with an “-re” differentiates the project from other city center plans, according to the city.
The city’s 2034 Comprehensive Plan calls for a “City Centre” to complement a long-discussed redevelopment of the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA station.
Chris Mutter, the HGOR principal in charge of the project, told the council the design team is based on three principals — communication, financial strategy and forward thinking.
For the first few months of creating the master plan, the firm will get community input and engagement through various public input strategies and have some concept plans by the end of this year or the beginning of next, according to the firm’s plans.
The council is set to vote on the plan in June 2021, according to the firm’s schedule.
The master plan is set to include a study of current conditions, an evaluation of community needs, a review of the zoning code and suggestions for streetscaping and public art.
Patrice Ruffin, the city’s director of community development, said the city awarded the bid to HGOR because of the diversity of the team and the members’ experiences. Ruffin said HGOR’s proposal also had good financial planning and transportation-oriented elements.
City Manager Christian Sigman said the City Centre master plan “would define this city probably more than any other master plan.”
Councilmember Madeleine Simmons said she looks forward to a strong community engagement and public input process as the plans get underway.