SCENE
WELLNESS
Seeking mirror images
Nutrition on the move
Fathers and their “mini-me” offspring can register for a chance to win the Gallery at South DeKalb’s annual FatherChild Look-A-Like Contest. 4
The DeKalb Mobile Farmers Market is offering affordable, regionally grown fresh fruits and vegetables at area stops. 6
Put Litter in Its Place Let’s Do Our Part to Keep DeKalb Beautiful
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2016 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
June 4, 2016
Volume 22, Number 6
www.crossroadsnews.com
EPA awards Doraville $820,000 to help clean up GM site By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
million the EPA made to 131 communities. Altogether, it announced 218 grants ranging from $200,000 to $820,000. The GM plant site, which closed in 2008, is being redeveloped by Integral Group. The $60 million mixed-use project with its access to I-285, a rail corridor, the Doraville MARTA station, and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard is expected to be a well-connected hub with residential, retail and offices. The EPA grant to “Assess and Clean Up Contaminated Sites and Promote Economic Redevelopment” is the second brownfield funding awarded for cleanup, which Howe
The former General Motors site in Doraville is being redeveloped as a $60 million mixed-use project by Integral Group. The cleanup of contamination is estimated to cost more than $7 million.
The contaminated General Motors site in Doraville has landed $820,000 for cleanup from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The city of Doraville said the grant, announced May 20, will mostly go to help clean up the 165-acre site near Spaghetti Junction at the intersection of I-285 and I-85. Luke Howe, Doraville’s economic development director, said the old GM site is the city’s “bell cow” of brownfields. “It will get the lion’s share of the grant,” Howe said Thursday. The Doraville grant was among $55.2 Please see GRANT, page 2
$350,000 not enough to settle blasting claims Homeowners unhappy with county offers
LaVeda Bennett (in pink) expresses frustration to MaLika Hakeem and DeKalb Watershed Director Scott Towler at a May 10 meeting with homeowners impacted by blasting at the Snapfinger Wastewater Treatment Plant.
By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
Through June 2, DeKalb County government says it has made or approved payments totaling $341,000 to homeowners who have suffered property damage caused by blasting at the Snapfinger Wastewater Treatment Plant in Decatur. The damage stems from the county’s $187.8 million expansion of the plant at 4224 Flakes Mill Road, which is the largest project in the $1.35 billion of water and sewer improvements under a Consent Degree between DeKalb County and the Environmental Protection Agency. Phase 1 construction, which was completed in September 2013 at a cost of $7.6 million, yielded the first set of claims dating back in December 2013. Blasting and rock excavation have caused cracks in the foundation, walls, ceilings and driveways of homes throughout the Chapel Hill community. The blasts also have caused broken pipes and sprinkler systems. MaLika Hakeem, who is handling the settlements for the office of interim CEO Lee May, said payments have been made or have been approved for 113 of the 128 homeowners who filed claims arising from the project’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 blasting. She said Thursday that 108 of the homeowners have already received payments and five will receive their checks this month. Even after a May 10 meeting with a group of angry homeowners affected by the blasts, Hakeem said the number of filed claims remains at 128, which were filed through September 2015. “No additional claims have been filed,” she said. The claims are being settled from $350,000 approved by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners. Hakeem said 15 claims are pending because the BOC’s first appropria-
Jennifer Parker / CrossRoadsNews
tion is not enough to cover them. “We are ready to proceed with the final offers but additional funds are needed to settle them,” Hakeem said, adding that about $9,000 will be left. Scott Towler, DeKalb Watershed Management director, attended the meeting but did not speak. Hakeem said the BOC will be asked for an additional $150,000 at its Committee of the Whole meeting this month. At the May 10 community meeting at the Community Achievement Center in Decatur, residents expressed frustration with the process and accused the county of dragging its feet on settling the claims or offering them inadequate amounts. Monica Williams, who lives on Lehigh Road, said residents are “sick and tired” of the way they have been treated. “What you say, you don’t do,” Williams said. “Information is given out but no one ever calls or follows up. Why can’t these people’s homes be taken care of.” Hakeem said the county has done its best
to minimize the impact of construction. “We are 50 percent below the threshold allowed by the federal government,” she said to them. “If you have any issue, contact us. Our team wants to respond to you.” Residents complained the blasts that resumed April 4 are still shaking their homes. “One blast last week [May 5] scared the crap out of me,” Williams said. “This has been over two years.” “We feel your pain,” Hakeem said. “Nah,” shouted the audience. “We hear what you are saying,” she said. “We know these projects are a nuisance and we are trying to minimize the impact.” Ilam King, another resident, said the blast on May 5 was not a small one. “I work from home so I feel everything,” King said. “I felt it.” Hakeem said the county has been notifying homeowners within a 4,000-foot radius of the plant. “We hand out notifications, we send emails,” she said. “We have gone above and beyond. We now have layers of oversight.”
Madeline Huggins, who says she has lived in the area for 27 years, said everywhere they push her. “The blast last week, I had a pipe break,” she said. Larry Williams, who lives in Dogwood Manor Estate, wanted to know what the longterm effects will be on his property. “Tell us what to expect,” he said. “There is some undermining of foundation going on. There is some settlement going on. Tell us ‘here’s what you should expect.’” Several residents from South River Bend subdivision said they haven’t received door hangers or emails. Hakeem said tests show people beyond 4,000 feet of the blast are not affected by it. Monica Williams said that there is shifting, shaking and settling, “I don’t care what kind of science you have,” she said. “If people’s homes are buckling, how can you say that.” LaVeda Bennett, a disabled vet who has Please see BLASTS, page 2