The February Zoning Committee meeting agenda is as follows:

Variance Application No.V-14-298 - 284 Josephine Street NE Atlanta GA 30307

Applicant seeks a variance from the zoning regulation to reduce the north side yard setback from 7 feet to 1.9 feet and the south side yard setback from 7 feet to 6.1 feet to allow the proposed addition to align with the footprint of the existing house. The applicant also seeks a variance to increase the maximum lot coverage from 55% to 63%. The applicant also seeks a special exception to increase the height of the rear privacy fence/wall from 6 feet to 10 feet.

MARTA Transit Oriented Development Project of Candler Park/Edgewood Station

Representatives from MARTA will be meeting with the Committee to discuss the proposed development project and PD-MU Zoning conditions for the TOD project. The project site plans and zoning conditions have been revised after the extensive neighborhood meetings during August - October and the Center Forward traffic study. The discussion will focus on the site plan specific zoning of PD-MU in anticipation of a presentation to the entire neighborhood for a rezoning vote at the monthly members meeting on February 16.

Should anyone have questions about any of the items on the agenda, please feel free to contact Seth Eisenberg, CPNO Zoning Chair, at zoning@candlerpark.org.

Save the date! The annual Candler Park Easter Egg Hunt is back this year, and will be on ***SATURDAY, MARCH 28 at high noon***. We'll have 3,500 candy-filled eggs and will do three age groups as usual - little kids (0-3), medium kids (4-6), big kids (7+).

Many thanks to Candler Park Market for supplying all the candy for the eggs, plus the prizes for the three golden eggs. And of course to Kelly Jo for organizing the event. Hope to see you there! 

Mary Lin PTA and Foundation are selling the school's vintage auditorium seats to raise money for a playground. Candler Park neighbors, whether Lin parents or not, might be interested in aesthtic or historical value of these seats. Here's more info...

 

Are you a former or current Mary Lin Elementary parent? Former Mary Lin student? Proud grandparent or active community member?  Mary Lin is under construction, the auditorium is receiving a facelift, and those lovely old wooden chairs (how many hours did you sit in those, watching your kid on stage?!) are FOR SALE! Perfect for your porch, deck, in-home theater or any wooden floor. 

Soon these vintage pieces will be gone forever! There are a limited number available, so act soon. Pick up only on Friday, January 30th from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon at Lin. When they're gone, they're gone! And every penny raised goes directly into the Playground Fund to allow us to break ground this summer.


http://linplayground.com/buy-an-auditorium-chair/

Your January issue of the Candler Park Messenger is online here.

If you're a CP resident, you should be receiving the Messenger via mail. If you didn't receive this month's issue, please email your name and address editor@candlerpark.org. We've apologize for delivery problems in the transition to the new distribution system, but we believe the issues are being resolved now.

Here's a preview of the 2015 CPNO operating budget proposed by the CPNO Board.

Treasurer Peter Bluetone presented the budget for feedback at our December Members Meeting. In response to members' comments, he made some adjustments (this is the updated version).

A word about how CPNO's budgeting is structured: Our operating budget covers annual costs such as insurance, rent (for meeting space), prining materials and other miscellaneous. We don't budget for our revenue, and we bring additional expenditures -- such as appropriations for special projects or grants for outside organizations — before members separately over the course of the year.

Epworth UMC sent a message to its congregation regarding the AT&T cell tower that was planned at the church. Since the news is relevant to our CP community, we are sharing the message from Rev. Alvin Lingenfelter below.

 

Dear Congregation,

 

I write to inform you of some important recent events. In a meeting with AT&T, the church was informed that AT&T has decided not to pursue siting a wireless facility at the church. Following the official lease guidelines, they have exercised their option to withdraw from the agreement. AT&T Representative, David Walker, met with Trustee Chair Jim Pelot, and Rev Alvin Lingenfelter this past week. David's comments were straightforward in that this was simply a business decision on the part of AT&T.

 

If you have additional questions they can be directed to our SPR Chair, Virginia Connolly, our Lay Leader, Jamie Weaver, or our Trustee Chair, Jim Pelot.

 

Peace, 

Rev Alvin Lingenfelter

Submitted by Environment Officer John Skach

At CPNO’s Jan. 19 Members Meeting, the Environment Committee plans to introduce a formal motion to establish the Candler Park Conservancy. The motion  will recognize the Conservancy as a stand-alone nonprofit entity — independent of the CPNO.

It also will make the Conservancy’s “purpose statement” official: “To serve as an accountable organization responsible for engaging stakeholders and for formulating, prioritizing and implementing a collective vision for Candler Park park, in partnership with the city.” Volunteers developed that purpose statement during an facilitated brainstorming in October, which was open to all CPNO members. We’ve gotten positive feedback from CPNO members on the purpose statement.

Since then, a group of about 20 volunteers has been searching for commitments from neighbors who’d willing to give their time to serve on the Conservancy’s founding board, and we’ve strategized on the best approach to move things forward. We settled on the idea that CPNO — which has supported the Conservancy idea as a priority in the Candler Park Master Plan — should be asked to offer the Conservancy some initial guidance and its official blessing.

The motion that I’ll introduce in January is intended to fulfill that purpose. Its draft (which is attached) includes the following specifics:

• The 11 members of the founding board and their positions: Stacy Funderburke (chair),  Amy Erwin (vice-chair), Randy Pimsler (treasurer), Amy Stout (secretary),  Ben Klehr, Lauren Welsh, Michele Allen, Charles Hooker, Jack White, Ken Edelstein and John Skach
• The four principal duties the board will take on over the coming year: 1) Implementing the formal tasks necessary to establish and build the 501c3 entity; 2) building the foundation for Conservancy policies and procedures related to marketing, communication fundraising, governance etc.; 3) initiating and overseeing a community visioning process for the Conservancy and the park; and 4) establishing a permanent Board of Directors
• The structure of the permanent board so that it has both flexibility and accountability.

The Environment Committee will meet 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 8, at Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Coffee Shop. Please feel free to join us or to send comments and ideas to me before that meeting at environment@candlerpark.org. And plan to attend the Jan. 19 Members Meeting so that you can participate in the discussion and the vote.

CPNO members approved last night a $2,300 grant to support a six-film Movie Night series in the spring and summer of 2015. The vote was 25-6 with six abstentions.

Movie Night is a production of Friends of Candler Park, a small, informal group founded by CPNO Special Projects Officer Mark Clement but independent and separate from CPNO.

The 2015 grant is significantly different from those in previous years. For one thing, it’s less than a third the size of last year’s $7,000 grant. Friends intends to raise the balance of the funds through other sponsorships.

In addition, until this year, CPNO grants to Movie Night went into the Friends of Candler Park’s account at Park Pride, a non-profit group that serves as a fiscal agent for small groups like Friends. This year, CPNO will instead provide the grant in the form of a direct payment toward the company that licenses film showings.

Finally, the grant will be issued only after CPNO is assured by Friends that “sufficient” money has been raised for the film series to take place.

Here’s the actual motion:

The Candler Park Neighborhood Organization approves a grant for Movie Night 2015 in the amount of $2,300 to pay for the rights to the movies per the grant application. Said funds are to be paid to the movie company upon notification from Friends of Candler Park that sufficient other funds have been secured from sponsors. Such notification must be made on or before April 1, 2015.

During a lively discussion, some members requested more information about how money had been spent on previous Movie Night series. Supporters argued that the motion addressed documentation issues moving forward and that the series should receive a grant because it's so popular with residents.

A motion to delay the vote for the month failed by a 15-20 vote.

A separate motion honoring Freedom Park Bird & Butterfly Garden founder Carol Vanderschaaf passed unanimously. The garden is off the southwest corner of North Avenue and Candler Park Drive. Here's that motion:

We, the members of the Candler Park Neighborhood Organization, wish to publicly acknowledge the time, effort, energy and expenses that Carol Vanderschaaf has put forth over the past decade in establishing and maintaining the wonderful public natural space of the Bird and Butterfly Garden located in Freedom Park. As a gesture of thanks, we authorize the expenditure of up to $100 for the purchase of a bat house or birdhouse, properly engraved, to install in the garden in her honor. Amy Stout is hereby authorized to oversee the bat house or birdhouse’s selection, purchase, engraving and installation.

Annual budget deliberations take center stage at the last Members' Meeting of the year — tonight at 7 pm at the First E Church. We'll also vote on funding for Movie Night, and we'll hear a presentation on the upcoming motion to create a Candler Park Conservancy

Treasurer Peter Bluestone will walk us through a roadmap to guide budget planning over the next two years. He'll follow up by proposing an operating budget, which we'll discuss tonight and will vote on at our Jan. 19 meeting.

Also on the agenda:

• We'll vote on a $2,300 grant request from Friends of Candler Park to produce Movie Night in the park again next year.
• We'll discuss crime with a representative of the Atlanta Police Department.
• Environment Committee Chair John Skach will offer up an overview of our long-awaited motion to create the Candler Park Conservancy, which he plans to make at our Jan. 19 meeting.
• We'll vote on a special gift for one particular, very special CPNO volunteer.
• And, if you don't join us, we'll take up that endorsement for three-eyed, human-finger-eating aliens to take over the world and to use your house as their new Capitol.

All this will be packed into two hours of good ol' communitarian fun at 7 pm on Dec. 15 at the First E Church, 470 Candler Park Drive. Here's a peak at the proposed agenda.

But, hey, why not arrive a early to partake of pizza provided by this month's food sponsor, Savage Pizza? As you know, we also have free, professional childcare for kids more than 2 years old.

As I indicated in my most recent NPU-N report, legislation has been proposed to rewrite the City of Atlanta's Tree Protection Ordinance (TPO).  

Please find attached a fact sheet regarding this proposal, a table highlighting the proposed changes in the ordinance, and a draft of the proposed legislation (14-O-1474).  

This matter is scheduled to be on the agenda of the November NPU-N meeting (that will be held Monday, Nov 24th, at 7 pm at the L5P Center for Art and Community at 1083 Austin Avenue.)  

The public can also provide feedback by attending a special hearing on the TPO that will be held Tuesday, Dec 9th at 12:30 pm (coinciding with the regular meeting of the Atlanta City Council's Community Development and Human Resources Committee in Committee Room 2 at City Hall, 55 Trinity Avenue.)

I welcome your input on these and related issues.  Please contact me at NPURep@candlerpark.org.

Amy Stout