DUNWOODY, Ga. — In a continued effort to boost Dunwoody Village as the city’s downtown, a newly formed group of area business owners are working on a game plan.
Dunwoody Village, a neighborhood of shops, offices and residences along Chamblee Dunwoody Road near Mount Vernon Road, has been a focus for city officials for some time.
In 2011, the Dunwoody Village Master Plan was created through the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Center Initiative grant program, which incentivizes local jurisdictions to revitalize areas into self-sustaining communities with a diverse range of housing, employment and commercial options.
About a decade later, an update was adopted that focused on rewriting zoning regulations.
Dunwoody Community Development Director Richard McLeod said he had passed Dunwoody Village in the ’70s, growing up in Roswell while his mother worked at Perimeter Mall, and noted it hadn’t changed.
“I thought it was a little weird, and I started talking to some of the councilmembers and some of the folks who live around here, and they said, ‘It’s so tired. It needs a lift,’” McLeod said.
There had been criticism from the community that spanned from the number of banks in the Village to style limitations, he said.
Michael Starling, Dunwoody’s director of economic development, said aesthetics of Dunwoody Village were meant to capture the historic feel of Williamsburg, Virgnia, but that they became a hindrance to new development. Based on a survey conducted by an architectural firm, Starling said most people were more concerned with function anyway, giving city staff ammunition to incorporate design changes into the zoning code.
The master plan also resulted in more city investment into key Dunwoody Village corridors, like the $2.33 million streetscape project on Dunwoody Village Parkway, completed in 2014. Another…
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