After two years of public input and discussion, the Brookhaven City Council unanimously passed the city’s multimodal plan with amendments on Aug. 27. More than 100 attendants looked on while 30 residents commented publicly about the city’s plans to tackle transportation.
Opinions at the podium bounced back and forth between proponents and opponents of two different issues: bike lanes and the intersection improvement plan at Ashford Dunwoody Road at Windsor Parkway. Members and leaders of St. Martin’s in the Fields Episcopal Church passionately delivered another push for a “less expensive and less intrusive” option, rather than a roundabout that calls for the removal of trees.
The youngest public speaker on the multimodal plan was 9-year-old Pax Marczak, who is organizing a bike bus to Ashford Park Elementary. His goal is to encourage students to join a morning bike ride, which would improve traffic and air quality.
“When you see bikers on the road, you feel like, ‘Someone’s doing good for the environment today.’ And when that happens, it just makes you happy, and the people biking are also happy,” said Marczak. “It’s really good for everyone.”
Several residents from the Lavista Park neighborhood, which was annexed into Brookhaven in 2022, said they were unfamiliar with the multimodal plan until recently. Michael Franco, an experienced cyclist who lives on Citadel Drive, and his neighbors Linda Terry and Joe Remillard were strongly opposed to bike lanes.
Before the vote, City Councilmember Michael Diaz announced a list of modifications to the plan. Citadel Drive will not be getting bike paths, he said.
The list of modifications to the multimodal plan includes:
- District 1: Removal of the bikeway on Woodrow Way and Brenton Circle; Removal of the sidewalk on Oakforest Drive, Ashwoody Trail and Ashwoody Court; Relocate the sidewalk on Candler Lake West; and Remove the dashed paved trail to Murphey Candler Park on Remington Road.
- District 2: No changes.
- District 3: Remove the sidewalk on Oglethorpe Avenue from North Druid Hills Road to Colonial Drive.
- District 4: Remove bike paths on Citadel Drive, Beech Haven, and Sheridan Road; and remove the multimodal path along the Georgia Power easement.
- Citywide, all micro-mobility hubs will be removed.
The multimodal plan is an overall look the existing network and work already completed to establish a thorough network of trails, lanes, and paths. It had not been updated since its adoption in 2016. Brookhaven hired Alta Planning + Design in December 2022 to revise the plan. As residents began to review it, the plan changed several times. Early feedback criticized Alta for not walking the land it was planning.
The city held public meetings and open houses about the multimodal plan in 2023 and 2024, and residents were invited to submit public comment online. City Councilmember John Funny said residents were still giving him feedback in early August.
Mayor John Park and several council member said they appreciate residents coming forward to participate.
“I am heartened by the engagement by the community,” said Park. “Although it has been an imperfect process, no process is perfect.”
The city announced this week it is applying for a grant from Safe Streets for All, a program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.