Dunwoody, Georgia: September 2021
There are some new faces at Dunwoody City Hall, and I’m pleased to take this opportunity to introduce them. They came on board earlier this year as part of a new contract with The Collaborative, an urban planning and design firm, to provide services in planning, zoning and code enforcement. The Collaborative was selected by the City through the public-private partnership model that has served us well since incorporation. The model provides lower costs, higher performance and greater accountability by outsourcing most departments to the private-sector service providers.
From day one, I’ve been impressed by the new team. They bring experience and strong credentials from top universities. Under the leadership of Community Development Director Richard McLeod, they have immersed themselves in learning about our community and our codes. They even developed a unique home page on the city website to make it easier for residents to navigate permits and licensing, file a code complaint, research tree regulations and more: www.dunwoodyga.gov/communitydevelopment.
You may not realize what a critical role our Community Development Department plays in construction projects across Dunwoody. For any commercial and new residential projects, the entire team is involved in plan review. This covers everything from land disturbance to electrical to signs and involves our planners, arborist, city engineer and building official. Remodeling jobs also go through careful review. Our building official alone handles as many as 50 inspections a day. Code enforcement is another important function of community development. You can find a list of frequent code violations and file a complaint using this link.
cheers sticker open container
This year, we moved oversight of business and alcohol licenses from finance to community development, which also distributes stickers for restaurants in Dunwoody’s new entertainment districts. I hope by now you’ve heard about this special designation. In 2020, the Dunwoody City Council adopted regulations to create the Dunwoody Village Entertainment District in 2020. This allows restaurants within the district to sell alcoholic drinks in to-go cups for consumption inside the district’s boundaries. The drinks must be served in clear plastic cups labeled with Cheers! stickers provided by the City. A few months ago, Council extended open-container regulations to two new areas, creating the Ashford Lane Entertainment District and the High Street Entertainment District. This is a great initiative to help our businesses and create destinations within our community.
Final note:
I hope you’ll join me in welcoming Ardy Bastien as our newest Dunwoody City Council Member. He was nominated by Mayor Lynn Deutsch and approved unanimously by Council to fill the unexpired term of Pam Tallmadge in City Council Post 1. He has extensive experience in city leadership as a longtime member of the Dunwoody Zoning Board of Appeals. He’s also a dedicated community volunteer. I look forward to working with him.