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Decatur Diary | February 16, 2018

East Lake MARTA Vision Unveiling February 26: Everyone’s invited

The lengthy community planning process for the East Lake MARTA station area comes to a close on Monday, February 26, when finalized recommendations will be shared by the project team.

Late last year the first round of concepts was released for the station’s long-term redevelopment, together with a survey for public assessment and comment. That survey closed January 12.

Results of the survey, together with the metrics necessary to analyze them, were released earlier this month.

Today, with all community input collected and assessed, it’s time to see the final recommendations for the station, as well as improved neighborhood connections to it.

Please make plans to join us:

Monday, February 26 | 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Church of the Epiphany, Parish Hall
2089 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE, Atlanta (Map it)

Agenda:

Introduction & Welcome | 6:00 – 6:15 p.m.
Presentation & Questions | 6:15 – 7:00 p.m.
Final Community Input | 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

In preparation, or for those who’ve not yet had opportunity to participate, here’s a big picture overview of the project:

What’s this project about?

Thanks to a $100,000 Livable Centers grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission, MARTA, the cities of Decatur and Atlanta, and unincorporated Dekalb County are working together with the community surrounding the East Lake MARTA Station to develop a vision for the station’s future — from what kinds of new uses would benefit surrounding communities, to what kinds of amenities might be included, to what sort of scale and arrangement best fits the neighborhood, to how access into and out of the area might be made safer and more convenient.

How will this impact homeowners within the project area?

The Make East Lake MARTA Yours effort is limited to MARTA-owned property and public rights of way in proximity to the site. No surrounding homes are included in any of the proposals, no acquisition of private property is required for right-of-way, and no impacts will occur as it relates to property ownership or occupation.

However, recommendations will include those focused on the quality of connections between the station and its surrounding neighborhoods so, once implemented, homeowners can expect, for example, safer access to the station via better sidewalks and crosswalks, and more bike-friendly infrastructure.

What was the process for community involvement?

Over the course of the past several months, the Make East Lake MARTA Yours team has met with the surrounding community, talked with commuters, collected input online, led a walking tour and design workshop, crowdsourced issues and ideas, and provided an online survey of initial ideas under consideration.

What’s the timeline?

This planning process, which kicked off with the September 25, 2017 Community Academy, wraps up this month with our February 26 meeting. Implementation thereafter remains subject to a variety of factors — MARTA’s priorities as it relates to the sequencing of their various redevelopment efforts, the broader economy, etc. No significant physical change to the station area should be expected for at least a few years.

Why has MARTA identified this station as a development site?

East Lake is one of MARTA’s lowest utilized stations, ranking 35th out of 38 in average weekday entries. This project seeks to address this weakness in multiple ways: increase ridership by increasing residents (and potential users) in close proximity to transit; improve connections between the station and adjacent neighborhoods; and generate revenue through the redevelopment of underutilized parking.


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Comments

  1. Blackcatprowliii says

    It is hoped that huge amount of feedback at the East Lake development proposal is taken into consideration and that people will be listened to instead of railroaded and run over. That the feedback will be incorporated into other design ideas around the area, like at Commerce & Clairemont!

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