Protect Tuxedo Park's Beauty

Hello Neighbors!

Developers have set their sights on Tuxedo Park.  Wanting to make a fast buck without regard to the heritage or ecology of our beautiful neighborhood, some developers have attempted reckless plans.  At 142 Blackland Road, we have been fighting such a plan.  Stokesman Homes has spent nearly the last six months attempting to push through a Subdivision of 142 Blackland Road that would have committed the following acts:

1.  CUT down 22 trees, including the gorgeous magnolia and several large hardwoods providing canopy.

2.  Classified the intermittent stream running within the property as a "ditch", which would have allowed the developer to move the stream, changing the characteristics of water flow downstream in Tuxedo Park and the Nancy Creek watershed.

3.  Excavated, landfilled and disrupted  the riparian buffer of the intermittent stream as now determined by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division!

4.  Built two McMansions up  to the minimum buffer of the property lines.

Fighting these efforts required significant time and expense.  Developers have deep pockets, because they stand to make a lot of profit by taking the large lots of Tuxedo Park and subdividing them right up to the very limits of zoning and environmental laws...sometimes even pushing the envelope.  In this case, the developer seemed resolute on trouncing the "little guys", us neighbors and brought out the hydrologists, ecologists, arborists and other professional services to help him do it. He spared no expense in his attempt to get the subdivision application passed.

Please help us with our fight!  Expenses to date have run $14,000, and we may not be quite done.  We all benefit from protecting the tree canopy, watershed, streams and beauty of Tuxedo Park.  We appreciate any help you can give.  This is your neighborhood too.  Please help!

With appreciation,
Rick van Nostrand
Peter Lauer
Michael Outlaw

Here are a few photos and notes about our fight.  See below:

Here was the Announcement to Subdivide 142 Blackland

Here was the Attempt to Cut Down the Trees

Here was the plan to subdivide 142 Blackland Road into two long skinny lots (only 65' feet at the back!)

We MUST protect our Streams and Wet Lands in Tuxedo Park!!!


What chance did we have against the developer?
In this case the developer's plan would have encroached upon the riparian buffer that these streams are now accorded since we convinced the City and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to conduct multiple on-site visits and eventually rule the stream the developer was calling a "wet weather ditch" was really a STREAM!  

Now the stream is protected and NO developer can develop within 75' of this stream, which means that 142 Blackland Road CANNOT be subdivided.

Are we Done?
We should be close to the end, but the developer could still have a trick up his sleeve, so we are en guard until the final determination on the Subdivision Application is made by the City of Atlanta.

Special Thanks!
Thanks to the good people at the City of Atlanta, our own Neighborhood Planning Unit, the Tuxedo Park Civic Association and especially the devoted civic servants at the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for their hard and diligent work.