Your vote matters tremendously in the runoff election for two Senate seats. Please vote early. Please ask your relatives and friends to vote. Election day is January 5.  President-elect Biden won by only 12,000 votes in Georgia. Every vote matters!  Click this link to find out where to vote early.

GHHCDC thanks Erica Weaver for her continued diligence in bringing the Family Dollar at Panola and Young Road up to code. Code Enforcement issued a citation because of her efforts. Things are still not right, but they are improving. The store has a new manager, whom Erica has met, and the manager vows to remove the extra dumpsters on the property and keep the remaining one behind the screened enclosure. Erica has pursued this case for well over a year, and we appreciate her efforts.

Another Gas Station! Good Grief
Please attend the community meeting with the developer Dec. 21, 6 pm, via Zoom.

Developer Jeff Smith have invited us to a Zoom meeting to discuss a rezoning for two parcels located on the corner of Panola Road, and Young Road, from R100 to C1, “in order to build a high-end convenience store with gas pumps. We look forward to presenting you all our plan and fielding all questions.”

The GHHCDC has a low opinion of erecting yet another gas station in our community. Unfortunately, the parcels for the proposed gas station falls outside of the overlay district, but it is right across the street, and right across from Berean Christian Church.   We will attend and hope you do, too. Let us see what he has to say. 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89953377945?pwd=RFcvSGgrb3orNXMwWnRLUFErNHV4dz09

Give yourself a few minutes extra to log in. There is a registration form to complete.

• Meeting ID: 899 5337 7945
• Passcode: 244430
• One tap mobile
• +13017158592
• Meeting ID: 899 5337 7945
• Passcode: 244430

Effort to Amend Overlay Code Will Start Again in 2021

Jahnee Prince, deputy director of the department, reports that the department has been able to hire staff and is now fully staffed for the first time in two years.  That is good news for the Hidden Hills Overlay District. We have been trying that long to amend the code – the main objective is to further restrict liquor stores, gas stations, nightclubs, and “dollar” stores, and to update various portions. The overlay district was passed in 2011, and it covers 4 square miles (roughly Covington, Young, Redan, S. Hairston).

Karen Hill, senior planner at the DeKalb County Planning & Sustainability Department, retired recently. We are going to miss her, and we wish her a fulfilling, healthy, and happy retirement.

Trees – A Gift to Yourself and Future Generations

Would you like to increase the value of your home? Reduce your air conditioning bill? Improve air quality? Provide habitat for songbirds? You can do this by taking a simple step: ask DeKalb County to plant a beautiful hardwood in your front yard.

This is such an important act of kindness to our environment and to future generations. For only $25, you can participate in the new ReLeaf DeKalb program and have an overstory tree professionally planted in your front yard.   The program is in partnership with the experienced non-profit organization Trees Atlanta.

Please read the flyer and plant a tree!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HfkffyUrTxmtDlTKL1nVeiBJklkd_ZM6/view?usp=sharing

Some of the trees for this effort have been reserved for public initiatives. GHHCDC asked DeKalb County to plant trees along S. Hairston Road from Wesley Chapel to Memorial. The Planning & Sustainability Department is receptive to the idea and is considering the request. We will keep you posted.

Hairston Park Updates

Our park is waiting to hear about the Park Pride grant we applied for. It will be used to build a serenity path and gardens in the wooded area and to add seating areas. We are hopeful. 

The pavilion is coming, really. We won the grant in 2017. The Parks Department intends to send the final plans to the Board of Commissioners for review.

To learn more about the year’s activities at Hairston Park, please read the newsletter by Gwendolyn Stegall.    https://drive.google.com/file/d/12fcb6Xzzf3Ml358WsdC0lBZ6cv5EMDHj/view?usp=sharing

Still no end to the slaughter

Unfortunately, the slaughter continues at 1676 Rice Road.  The State v. Rudolph Bradford (18C16630-3) – against Rudolph Bradford, Bradford Homes & Grounds, Lithonia, GA 30058, has not been heard because of the COVID-19 shutdown in our court system. 

Solicitor-General Thomas Kemp diligently keeps us posted, and he said on Dec. 17:

The DeKalb Courts are still operating under statewide and local judicial emergency orders concerning COVID-19, but the State should be ready to proceed to jury trial when jury operations resume.  Right now, the exact date of in-person hearings and jury trials is unknown, but we will always do our best to keep you and your neighbors informed about upcoming court dates.

W. Thomas Kemp, III
Senior Assistant Solicitor-General

From January 2016 – October 2020, Rudolph Bradford killed 4,079 animals.   Since the cease-and-desist order issued March 1, 2019, he has slaughtered 1,949 animals.  The numbers are based on records sent from the Georgia Department of Agriculture.    

DeKalb Enters Third Phase of New Sanitation Trucks
Are You in the Service Area?
 Since October, many households have noticed that the third phase of DeKalb County’s deployment of automated side loader (ASL) collection trucks have begun. There are 43,000 households on select residential ASL garbage service routes that have or will be issued a larger capacity 95-gallon garbage roll cart in exchange for their existing 65-gallon garbage roll cart.

The DeKalb County Sanitation Department continues to receive emails from residents inquiring about the 95-gallon roll cart curbside exchange project. After review, they have determined that many of the residents requesting exemption from transitioning to the 95-gallon garbage roll cart are not within the project’s participation area at this time.

Why the exchange? The 65-gallon roll cart issued to residents in 2015 is inadequate to meet the needs of many households, and leads to overflowing garbage bins, excess garbage at the curb, and slower collection

Click here to determine if you are within this project’s area.
https://dekalbgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=e160189f7c894f4ab1ee8d196025e18f

Next Meeting

The Greater Hidden Hills Community Development Corp. met Nov.21, and it was so good to see everyone. Several of the items in this newsletter were prompted by our discussion.  Getting together helps us stay motivated.  We will meet Jan. 16 at 10 a.m., and I invite you to attend.  GHHCDC will send an announcement with the link closer to the event.

May everyone stay safe.
Happy Holidays!