The Atlanta property has received the green light to tear down 35 trees, add a 200-space parking deck, and install a new entrance/exit. A group of nearby residents attempted to halt the approval, citing traffic concerns and opposition to the tree removal.
The Atlanta City Council has approved plans for the Cherokee Town & Country Club to improve its campus, despite opposition from some of the residents living nearby, the Atlanta-based Northside Neighbor reported.
The council voted on November 20 to pass the club’s plans. On October 3, the club got approval from Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-B (NPU-B) board for its plans to tear down 35 trees, add a 200-space parking deck, and install a new entrance/exit. The club currently has an entrance and a separate exit to the west, the Neighbor reported.
The plans were approved by the Atlanta Zoning Review Board October 17 and the council’s zoning committee October 25 before going to the full council, the Neighbor reported.
“We’re excited it was approved by the council. That was the whole goal,” said club President Alex Cann. “We need to go in and refine what’s been approved and actually come up with the actual plans … with (input from) our architect and members. We’re very excited the city has approved them. We worked very hard with the neighbors to try to address their concerns and want to continue that great relationship up with our neighbors for several years to come.”
In November, before the council’s vote, 30 residents opposed to the club’s plans signed a petition to voice their opinion. Those signing the petition included owners of 13 of the 15 homes on Andrews Court, located across the street from the proposed entrance/exit. But their efforts to stop the plans from being approved failed, the Neighbor reported.
Andrews Court residents Dr. John Byrne and Deborah Hunter previously said they were against the plans for several reasons, the Neighbor reported.
“At first I was willing to give it consideration, and after consideration, I see a number of problems with it,” Byrne, who is also a club member, said of the plan. “West Paces Ferry is a very busy and congested street and any car making a left turn on West Paces Ferry is facing a potentially dangerous situation because of the congestion and sight lines are pretty poor. Having an intersection there increases the danger to people turning left because it puts the turn lane right at that intersection, where right now the turn lanes don’t match up.”
Hunter listed nine reasons why the club’s plans are flawed, including Byrne’s concerns plus the proposal calling for cutting down too many trees, leaving the old entrance and exit intact, having an unaesthetic view of the club from the road and the possible addition in 10 years of a traffic signal at the new entrance/exit, which would cause light to shine into people’s homes at night. The installation of the new entrance/exit will only increase the potential for more car wrecks there, Hunter said.
“There are eight to 12 accidents at Chatham (Road) every year, according to these residents,” she said, referring a statistic provided by residents of the street just west of the club on the same side as Andrews Court.
But Bill Murray, chair of the NPU-B’s zoning committee, and Buff Quillian, president of the Peachtree Heights West Civic Association, said their organizations supported the club’s plans because most of the residents living near the club did so. However, Quillian said she would like its new entrance/exit moved 120 feet west of Andrews Court, the Neighbor reported.
Last week, with the council having approved the proposal, Hunter said she hopes the club will reconsider its plans and work with the neighbors on a solution, the Neighbor reported.
Hunter also said by adjusting its plans, the club could save “a number of the 133 trees Cherokee plans to remove,” the Neighbor reported.
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