On August 11, a developer will ask Dunwoody City Council’s permission to cram 220 apartments onto the small lot on Ashford Dunwoody Road north of Ashford Center Parkway. This is the property where the Life South building sits today.
This seven-story building will be the first apartments built north of Ashford Center Parkway, but if approved, it certainly won’t be the last. These apartments will tower over everything else around them and be much denser than the transitional usage described in our long-term Comprehensive Plan.
One of the main reasons we became a city was to slow the conversion of Office-Industrial rezonings into dense multi-family apartments. For years, apartments have been creeping up Ashford Dunwoody Road toward single-family homes and Mt. Vernon. At the Planning Commission meeting, over a dozen residents spoke in opposition to this ill-conceived plan.
We should draw the line and insist that the City Council deny this rezoning petition. I urge the city council to deny this rezoning request.
Robert Wittenstein is a former Dunwoody City Council Member and a long-time resident of the city.
