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Phase 2 of Place on Ponce will open this fall, Decatur prepares for influx of apartment dwellers

Decatur

Phase 2 of Place on Ponce will open this fall, Decatur prepares for influx of apartment dwellers

Another rendering of the Place on Ponce project, provided by Carter USA
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Another rendering of the Place on Ponce project, provided by Carter USA

Another rendering of the Place on Ponce project, provided by Carter USA

An apartment complex in downtown Decatur will have 206 units opening up to tenants this fall, and the city is making traffic calming plans.

The Place on Ponce, located at 319 West Ponce de Leon Avenue, will begin leasing the second phase of its 234-unit apartment project this September.

Conor McNally, Chief Development Officer with developer Carter, said 60 units have already been pre-leased. Phase 1 had 28 units, and people have been living there since November 2014, McNally said.

“We’ll be finished up by the end of August, and moving in at the start of September,” McNally said.

The Decatur City Commission will get an update about traffic calming plans for the apartment project at its Aug. 3 meeting.

“As part of the development process for this project, the Planning Department was asked to evaluate and consider implementing various traffic calming improvements with the approval of the city’s development staff and consultation from neighborhood residents,” a memo from Planning Director Amanda Thompson says. “A Decatur Downtown Development Authority resolution listed four specific traffic calming ideas to evaluate. Residents submitted several other traffic calming ideas to consider. City staff has attempted to provide a comprehensive approach to traffic calming for the entire neighborhood that does not simply shift vehicles from one street to another street in the neighborhood.”

Here are the items recommended in the DDA resolution:

1. Installation of right turn only restriction on Ponce de Leon Place A concrete island to be installed in the drive to restrict left turns from the 315 site in a northbound direction onto Ponce Place.

This island will be located on private property and will be designed to allow access by emergency vehicles. Since the island is located on private property, violations of the left turn restriction are not enforceable by the Police Department.

2. Allow ingress and egress at W. Ponce de Leon The original plan called for ingress only at this driveway

The site is currently configured with ingress and egress onto West Ponce de Leon Avenue. This has been working well and keeping this traffic pattern to encourage the use of West Ponce de Leon is desirable.

[adsanity id=27331 align=aligncenter /]3. Resident only parking on Montgomery Street The city needs to update its resident parking only ordinances

This will take some planning, thought and public input. It is likely that this review will not be possible until sometime in 2016. We do not anticipate recommending establishing additional resident parking only districts until the existing ordinance can be reviewed and recommendations are made.

4. The appropriate signal timing for the light at West Ponce de Leon and Ponce de Leon Place

This request will be considered, along with all the signal timing in the city, when DeKalb County completes the installation of new traffic signals. Hopefully this will occur within the next two years, but the scheduling has been difficult to determine.

 

The City Commission meeting begins with a work session at 7 p.m., Aug. 3. Meetings are held at City Hall, located at 509 North McDonough Street, and are open to the public.