A Chamblee review board recommended the city rezone a 31-acre property near the Perimeter to make way for a sprawling mixed-use development that will add even more residents to the fastest growing city in metro Atlanta.
Dubbed Chamblee Park, the project would transform 62 mostly undeveloped parcels into more than 700 townhomes, apartments and houses in addition to 20,000 square feet of retail space. According to 2020 Census data, Chamblee’s population grew 205% in the past decade, and this project would provide housing for hundreds of new residents.
The Chamblee Design Review Board gave the project’s initial design a thumbs up at its Wednesday meeting, but it’ll be up to the City Council to actually grant the rezoning request. Despite endorsing the project, Design Review Board members did have a few gripes with some of the development’s finer details.
“I’ve got a generic section that shows me the (buildings’) widths, but I don’t have any sense of what this space would feel like. And it’s not a small space,” said Joshua Word, a board member.
The developer, Toll Brothers Inc.’s subsidiary Thrive Residential, submitted 120 pages of documents to the city to describe their project, which would be built around Parsons Drive and Deacon Lane. A shuttered church building and a few standalone homes in the area would be demolished if the project is greenlit.
The site can have a maximum of 816 residential units, but the developer said it plans to build 709. The project includes 304 townhomes, 40 single-family detached units and 365 multi-family apartments, which vary from studios to two-bedroom units.
Word, along with fellow board member Alicia Barber, said the submitted paperwork doesn’t include much detail on the apartments and commercial aspects of the project.
“There just isn’t much content here for us to look at and understand what this development is going to look like,” Barber said.
A Toll Brothers representative said they would iron out those details once the rezoning is passed. Right now, they aren’t requesting any design variances. Due to the size of the project, the developer had to seek and obtain approval from the Atlanta Regional Commission to continue.
Matt Cook, who has lived in the area for about 25 years, was the only resident to speak during the meeting. He generally liked the project, especially its focus on walkability and pedestrian improvements.
“The thought of being able to walk to (businesses) is wonderful,” he said. “I can’t walk to a grocery store that’s three blocks away from house (right now).”
The project would realign the existing roads, add sidewalks and add a central roundabout. Current plans call for one entrance and exit point at the intersection of North Shallowford Road and Peachtree Boulevard, which drew criticism.
“Just from a good urbanism standpoint, I would generally never propose having only a single point of entry, let alone one on this size of scale,” Word said.
City planning staff said the developer is talking to property owners to the north about making Deacon Lane into a thoroughfare, connecting to Perimeter Park Drive.
Cook said he hopes the pedestrian improvements to the area would also help lessen traffic.
“I’ve spent hours of my life watching that light (at North Shallowford Road).” he said. “… We need to address the traffic and the pedestrian across Peachtree (Boulevard) because you can’t do it now.”
The three board members who were present, which also included Holly Jeffreys, voted unanimously to recommend approval. They encouraged the City Council to require the developer to ensure a second entrance and exit. They also wanted the developer to come back before the design review board once they have the final design specifications.
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