Neighborhood Snapshots: BUCKHEAD

Celebrating 20 Years INTown

Celebrating 20 Years INTown

We wrap up our year-long photo feature on Intown’s most vibrant neighborhoods with Buckhead. Clockwise from top left:

The historic Swan House on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center has gained international attention thanks to being featuring in The Hunger Games films.

The leafy grounds of the History Center are perfect for a stroll.

One of Buckhead’s many mansions.

Work continues on the $2.5 million renovation of Loudermilk Park in the heart of Buckhead Village.

The rings of this tree on the grounds of the History Center trace Atlanta’s past. Buckhead Theatre has become a favorite spot for concerts, films and events.

Competing cityhood initiatives merge to form LaVista Hills

The Lakeside and Briarcliff cityhoood initiatives in North DeKalb have fully merged under the new name of LaVista Hills. If created, the city will be the largest in DeKalb County with approximately 72,000 residents.

“Cityhood is about giving communities and citizens a choice,” said Mary Kay Woodworth, formerly of Lakeside. “We have spoken at well over a hundred community meetings in the last two years, and we continue to listen and respond to what residents and businesses tell us and to community’s desires. We are thankful to our volunteers and appreciate the continued community support and input shaping the new city’s vision.”

“I’m happy to see that Briarcliff and Lakeside could meet the House Governmental Affairs committee imposed deadline and look forward to helping them with their bill when they get to the Senate,” said State Sen. Fran Millar.

A three-party agreement with the Tucker 2015 cityhood movement was unsuccessful by the Nov. 15 deadline.

“We have made multiple offers to the Tucker cityhood movement and we’re still hopeful we can reach agreement on the boundaries,” said Allen Venet, formerly of the City of Briarcliff Initiative. “After merging the vision of Lakeside and Briarcliff, and presenting neighborhood survey and petition preference input to Tucker, we are disappointed that the groups were unable to reach an agreement by the November 15th deadline.”

In the coming weeks the combined group will continue work towards readying LaVista Hills for the 2015 legislative session.

Committee will explore Bellwood Quarry redevelopment

The Atlanta City Council has approved the creation of a 16-member advisory committee to make recommendations on the redevelopment of Bellwood Quarry, a site in northwest Atlanta bought by the city in 2006.

The site, located between Johnson Road and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, lies between Bankhead and west Midtown. It will be used as both a park and recreational space and as a raw drinking water storage facility.

“The property has enormous potential to be redeveloped in a number of ways consistent with the purposes for which it was purchased,” said Atlanta City Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, the sponsor of the resolution.

Plans are to eventually create a 300-plus acre park with a 45-acre lake, which would also serve as a drinking water reservoir. The plan is a portion of the extensive Belt Line project to construct a ring of parks, trails, and transit surrounding the core of Atlanta. The proposed park will be nearly twice the size of Atlanta’s current largest city park, Piedmont Park.

“The sooner we get this project underway, the better,” said Bond. “This park will provide city residents and visitors an alternative to Piedmont Park and will serve as a venue for large events. I envision it being a world-class public green space and it will be the largest public park in the southeast.”