announcements

Next up: May 22 draft Master Plan forum

Posted by Ken Edelstein | Filed under:
May 14 2013

Candler Parkers took a big step at a "Charrette Overview" on May 4 toward completing our neighborhood master plan.

About 70 residents attended the forum, where they were guided by a professional planning team through exercises designed to tease out details on neighborhood priorities. And if you missed it, you can now make your own voice heard by offering specific feedback on the very same topics online. Simply click here.
 
Charrette Overview meeting at Frazer Center. Photo by Aaron FortnerThe next step in the Master Planning process will be a "Draft Plan Community Forum," (7-8:30 pm, May 22, at the Epworth Church Fellowship Hall). At that meeting, planners hope to present draft proposals and more exercises on a wide variety of issues  — ranging from land use to traffic calming to the future of our parks.
 
Then, the planners will cobble together an actual draft plan, which will be made available for online comment and for discussion at a CPNO monthly meeting (tentatively, the June meeting). The trick will be to come up with a draft plan that has broad enough support to gain CPNO approval.
 
“There really is no science behind it,” said Aaron Fortner, who leads the planning team. “We’ll be putting everything forward to the [CP Master Plan] Steering Committee, and collectively we’ll be deciding what should move forward, what should come out, or what should keep being tweaked to keep seeing if we can get somewhere.”
 
“The goal of the plan is to document the community conversations that occur throughout the process and to delineate strategies for implementing those recommendations that have broad-based support,” Fortner said.
 
A refined draft plan should be ready for consideration by CPNO in late summer. And, finally, if approved by CPNO, it would go to the Neighborhood Planning Unit and on to City Council for official adoption.
 
It’s important to remember that having a Master Plan by no means guarantees that its proposals will come to fruition. But it does provide a roadmap for future decisions within the community, and it's likely to influence city officials as they make policy and funding decisions for the neighborhood and the adjoining areas. It also puts Candler Park in a better position to get money for such improvements as traffic calming, streetscapes and park facilities.
 
A similar article appears in this month's Candler Park Messenger.

Volunteers needed for Tour de Fat in Candler Park this Saturday

Posted by Lauren Welsh | Filed under:
May 7 2013

 

The Tour de Fat event will take place this Saturday, May 11 from 11 am to 5 pm in Candler Park and will include a bicycle parade, music and more. It's very family friendly, and all money raised will support bicycle focused nonprofits here in Atlanta - the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, Sopo Bicycle Cooperative and SORBA.
The group needs help with volutneers, so please consider signging up. Below is the volutneer sign-up and more information:

It’s Charrette Week: Heart of the master planning process

Posted by Ken Edelstein | Filed under:
Apr 28 2013

Excuse me??!!! You haven’t yet imparted your wisdom to the Candler Park Master Plan?

No sweat. This week, we get our best opportunity to collaborate on this fresh vision for our community's future.
 
For three consecutive evenings (5 p.m. to 8 p.m., April 30-May 2), the Master Plan Charrette will be held at the Hall House on the Mary Lin Elementary campus. Then, on Saturday morning (9 a.m.-10:30 p.m., May 4), at the Frazer Center in Lake Claire, we’ll all gather to hear about and discuss the concepts that emerged from those evening workshops.
 
What, you ask, is a “charrette”? According to the font of all knowledge (Wikipedia), it’s “an intense period of design or planning activity” and “may refer to any collaborative session in which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem.”
 
In our case, all community members are welcome to join in the collaboration. At the work sessions, expect a series of illustrations, exercises and questions meant to flesh out ideas that residents proposed during last month’s Kickoff Meeting, on online Snapshot Exercises and in less formal discussions.
 
Many big questions are searching for answers: What park improvements, for example, are we united in favor of? How can we make our sidewalks, roads and intersections safer for pedestrians and cyclists? Could the MARTA station be made more inviting? Could we bring to frution many people's dream of a Candler Park farmers' market? Should the neighborhood favor specific design guidelines? Can DeKalb Avenue be re-imagined as a pedestrian friendly commercial street, and if so, how could we make that transition?
 
Those three afternoon/evening sessions at Mary Lin also provide people who drop by with an opportunity to discuss problems and solutions in more detail with the professionals hired to help us with the plan. And the sessions will be dynamic: Lead planner Aaron Fortner and his team plan to capture the concepts from each three-hour session, and to reflect them back to participants the next evening. The result: Evolving elements of what eventually will be honed into a Draft Master Plan.
 
But if you can only make one Master Plan meeting, Saturday morning’s Charrette Overview Community Forum is the one you don’t want to miss.
 
To steal a couple of sentences on the Overview Forum from the Master Plan website, our planners “will provide a deeper contextual narrative for each of the emerging concepts and will then facilitate a process for obtaining feedback from the community on each of the ideas and recommendations.” (To reserve free childcare for the Overview Forum, click here. For directions, to the Frazer Center in Lake Claire, click here.)

420 Fest 5K Event Info - CPNO Event

Posted by David Aynes | Filed under:
Apr 13 2013

This year's Sweetwater 420 Fest 5K Road Race will take place on Saturday, April 20th at 9 AM. Packet pick-up will take place starting at 7:00 AM at Epworth Methodist on the corner of McLendon Ave and Mell Ave.   This is one of CPNO's biggest annual fundraisers and we need your help! 

PLEASE VOLUNTEER FOR THE WATER TEAM...GREAT FAMILY ACTIVITY!

***Look halfway down the page past Registration...WATER TEAM...we need YOU***

This year’s race features a new course which begins on McLendon Ave just west of Mell Ave. Both lanes of McLendon Ave will be shut down between Mell Ave and Euclid Terrace from  8 AM to approximately 9:15 AM.  In addition, the following roads will be affected:

Northbound lane of Moreland Ave from McLendon to Fairview Road

Eastbound lane of Fairview Road from Moreland Ave to Ponce de Leon Ave

Eastbound lane of Ponce de Leon Ave from Fairview Road to South Ponce de Leon

Eastbound lane of South Ponce de Leon from Ponce de Leon Ave to Clifton Road

Southbound lane of Clifton Road from South Ponce de Leon to Marlbrook Drive

Westbound lane Marlbrook Drive from Clifton Road to Page Ave

Northbound lane of Page Ave between Marlbrook and Clifton Terrace

Both lanes of Clifton Terrace from Page Ave to Terrace Ave will be closed or heavily affected from 9 AM to 11 AM.

The race will finish on Clifton Terrace and all of the runners will congregate on Clifton Terrance near Jackson Hill Baptist.  Please come join the fun as a volunteer or spectator.  Hang around for the festivities, beer and music as the second day of Sweetwater 420 Fest begins at eleven.  All race proceeds will benefit Candler Park Neighborhood Organization, Inc.

For detailed info, please visit the event website.

Start Area Map

Course Map

Finish Area Map

Tomorrow: You become the master of Candler Park's Master Plan

Posted by Ken Edelstein | Filed under:
Mar 25 2013

Yes, of course, you're planning to attend tomorrow's Kickoff Forum for the Candler Park Master Plan at the Frazer Center from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., featuring free childcare, exciting maps and charts, scintillating discussion, and the first ever free reunion concert of the Beatles. Who'd want to miss that?

But lemme ask you this: Have you reminded your neighbors about the Kickoff Forum? Have you invited even those folks who may have a different vision of the neighborhood from yours? For that matter, have you ventured up to that guy down the street who sits on his porch all day with a shotgun across his lap and yells for the squirrels "GET OFF OF MY LAWN"?

Because that, my friends, would be a true test of character.

OK, maybe you shouldn't go up to that guy.

Candler Park Master Plan logo

But seriously: Most Candler Park residents aren't in the habit of attending CPNO meetings or, for that matter, of reading the neighborhood blog. And yet it's crucial that we engage as many residents as possible in the planning process that kicks off tomorrow.

Otherwise we may learn after the fact that we didn't actually have community buy-in for the vision that we together came up with. Worse yet, we could miss out on someone's great ideas. 

As mentioned in this earlier post, the master plan is likely to play a major role in what our community looks and feels like for years to come, and it should help the neighborhood qualify for grants for priority projects. So, PARTICIPATE! And get your friends and neighbors to participate!

Tomorrow's 90-minute interactive session provides an opportunity to propel the plan in the right direction. To get to the meeting by car, enter via the Frazer Center's main gate at 1815 South Ponce de Leon Ave. (east of Clifton, just before South Ponce merges back into Ponce), then bear right and park in the main lot at the top of the hill. To get to the meeting by foot or bike, enter through the pedestrian gate at the northern end of Ridgewood Road in Lake Claire.

To RSVP for childcare, click here.

We're planning smaller sessions throughout the month to focus on particular issues and sub-communities. Then, for three consecutive early evenings (April 30-May 2), you'll be able to drop by an informal charrette to offer insights and help solve problems. After that, there will be a couple of wrap-up forums. Anyone also can provide feedback at any time at this page of the Master Plan website.

But at tomorrow's meeting we (and by "we," I mean the Master Plan Steering Committee) would need to get your participation and that of the neighbors. It's the Kickoff after all. It should help set a robust, creative problem-solving tone for the rest of the process.

New Master Plan website is key resource

Posted by Ken Edelstein | Filed under:
Mar 20 2013

The website for the Candler Park Master Plan — which is now live — features tools to help residents engage in our neighborhood’s master planning process.

That two-month-long planning process begins in earnest this Wednesday evening with community forum at the Frazer Center in nearby Lake Claire.
 
Meanwhile, the new Master Plan website provides a central spot for key information, including the dates and locations of other meetings and forums, land-use maps, and relevant plans and studies. (I found this page helpful because the City of Atlanta link took me to a list of the master plans of neighboring neighborhoods.)
 
There’s also a feedback page, which provides one way for folks to comment when they can’t make it to a meeting.
 
Planning processes like ours rely heavily on broad participation for them to work well. So we’re trying to ensure that there are as many opportunities as possible for as many people as possible to provide meaningful input. Plus, we want to ensure that everyone knows when and where the meetings are.
 
Can you help us by passing information about the website (as well as the March 27 Kickoff Forum) to your friends and neighbors? And, if you’re on Facebook, how about Liking the Master Plan site? Thank you!

Master Plan kicks off with March 27 forum

Posted by Ken Edelstein | Filed under:
Mar 19 2013

Mark your calendars, crank up your e-mail trees and start banging your kitchen pans: Candler Park’s long-awaited master planning process begins in earnest Wednesday evening, March 27, at the Frazer Center, with an interactive forum intended to document the neighborhood’s opportunities and challenges.

The Master Plan, which is scheduled for completion in late May, is likely to play a major role in what our community looks and feels like over the next decade — possibly longer. And it should help the neighborhood qualify for grants for priority projects.

The 90-minute session on March 27 provides all of us an opportunity to propel the plan in the right direction.

Candler Park Master Plan logo

“The night will consist of approximately a dozen interactive stations/exercises all aimed at getting everybody’s thoughts on neighborhood issues, opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, hopes, fears, etc.,” planner Aaron Fortner wrote in an email. “Lots of questions for them and hopefully lots of answers from them.”

Fortner’s firm, Market + Main, is lead consultant for the plan, which CPNO agreed to sponsor by a 53-1 vote at February’s membership meeting.

The two-month-long process will focus on land uses, transportation, market conditions and urban-design issues. “It’s designed to give the entire community a chance to ensure that our strengths and assets are preserved, and that the concerns we identify are appropriately addressed,” Fortner wrote.

The process will rely on three community forums, a series of focus sessions, and a planning charette. The first of those forums is the Kickoff, 7-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 27 at the Frazer Center. No babysitter? No excuse! Click here to RSVP for onsite childcare.

The focus sessions are still being planned. Their structure may be influenced by the direction in which the community pushes the plan.

The charette is multiday interactive planning event, during which community members can drop by to get information, to offer their insights and to help solve problems. It’s scheduled for 5-8 p.m., Tuesday, April 30; Wednesday, May 1; and Thursday, May 2, at the Mary Lin Elementary School gym.

Two days after the charette comes a Charette Overview Forum on Saturday, May 4, 9–10:30 am, at the Frazer Center. Then finally, the plan will be presented on Wednesday, May 22, 7-8:30 p.m., at Epworth Church.

Please mark the meeting dates above on your calendar and make it a priority to come out to be a part of this exciting process. The Master Plan plan needs your local knowledge, insight and ideas to help make it the visionary and consensus-building tool it needs to be.

If you have questions or comments, contact Master Plan Steering Committee Chair Jimmy Bligh or leave a comment at the end of this article.

Candler Park Brook - privet, Bradford Pear and other nasties

Posted by Eric Rubenstein | Filed under:
Mar 1 2013

Hi neighbors!

So at the last CPNO meeting where I formally introduced myself to the membership as the new Envinromental Officer, I said that I was looking for feedback from all neighbors on their environmental ideas to better the best neighborhood in Atlanta.  Sure enough, one Lauren Standish wrote me the next day about something I noticed all the time, but never thought shouldn't be there.

You see, as the area along the Candler Park Brook is so large, invasive plants such as privet and Bradford Pear are taking over and beginning to dominate the view, particularly over by the rock formations by the playground.

So neighbors, read what Lauren has to say about the situation:

Calling all Candler Park Brook enthusiasts! The de-channelization of Candler Brook completed in 2009 has given us all chances to watch various natural ecosystems nurture and develop.  At the time of the installation a variety of native and semi-native plant material were installed giving wildlife several benefits to enrich their habitat and provided stream bank stabilization.  Since then, privet, Bradford Pear and other noxious invasive plants have become present (this is not uncommon for such a large area to  maintain). Once established, these invasive type of plants will take hold quickly and over-populate the native plant material. 

To preserve our open space a small volunteer committee is needed to help remove such plants.  A task force will be forming within the next month and welcome your hard work, tools and muscle!   Please contact Lauren Standish <lstandish@hgor.com> or CPNO Environmental Chair Eric Rubenstein <environment@candlerpark.org> for further information.

I wrote the city's Department of Parks Design about this idea, and this is what they said: 

"Any assistance is appreciated.... We also have to be careful since the new brook and beaver pond would be considered a state water and subject to the restrictions of the 25’ state buffer.  That doesn’t mean that the invasive removal can’t take place, it’s just that we have to be sensitive – hand work only, not leave any bare soil where erosion can take place etc. " 

I will be bringing this topic up at the next board meeting, on March 11 and encourage discussion at our next CPNO meeting, March 18.  By all means, write me or Lauren to find out more. Thanks all!

Eric Rubenstein

CPNO Environmental Officer 2013

Atlanta BeltLine Inc. Invites All to First Quarterly Briefing of 2013 on March 7th

Posted by Amy Stout | Filed under:
Feb 22 2013

Join us for the 1st Quarterly Briefing of 2013!

Quarterly briefing public meetings are designed to provide the community and stakeholders citywide with updates on the progress of the Atlanta BeltLine with regards to planning, design, construction, community engagement, affordable housing, public art, and transit and transportation. This is also an opportunity to hear from you. Please join us and learn the continued plans to move Atlanta’s most transformative project forward.

Agenda Includes:

-Atlanta BeltLine Plans & Progress Updates

-Atlanta BeltLine Partnership Update

-Stakeholder Presentation by Trees Atlanta

 

Thursday, March 7, 2013

from 6pm to 8pm

Atlanta Technical College

in the Dennard Center

1560 Metropolitan Parkway SW,

Atlanta, GA 30310

Free Parking Available or By MARTA:  Take either the special Atlanta Tech bus (to the side door of the main building) from the West End MARTA Rail Station or the 95-Hapeville bus, which stops on Metropolitan Parkway outside the main gate.

www.beltline.org

New Designer Needed for Messenger

Posted by Stephen Cardwell | Filed under:
Feb 12 2013

All,

I'd like to thank Erin Aynes for her service to the neighborhood as the Messenger Designer and I'd like to congratulate her and her husband on their newborn.  Erin is going to take a break from being our designer to focus on the duties associate with a new bundle of joy.

As such, CPNO is actively seeking a volunteer graphic designer to handle layout on a monthly basis. The designer should be familar with the Adobe layout program InDesign, which is licensed by CPNO.  The position requires 5-10 hours per month.

Please contact me at president@candlerpark.org if you are interested.

Thanks,

Steve Cardwell

President, Candler Park Neighborhood Organization