Avondale Estates, GA — The Avondale Estates City Commission, at its April 24 regular meeting, approved a pilot residential composting program.

The city of Avondale Estates was awarded $323,800 through a U.S. Department of Agriculture Composting and Food Waste Reduction cooperative agreement to pilot curbside composting at city households, according to a press release. CompostNow, DeKalb Commissioner Ted Terry, Food Well Alliance and Roots Down will partner with the city to launch the program.

CompostNow will pick up the compost curbside and give it to Roots Down and Food Well Alliance.

Roots Down will distribute the compost to local DeKalb County public library edible gardens. Food Well Alliance will distribute to Black, Indigenous and people of color farmers in the Atlanta area.

The grant requires a local match of $80,000 from the city. Terry’s office is also contributing about $51,000 to the program.

City Manager Patrick Bryant said that more information about the logistics of the program will be forthcoming.

In other business:

– During the work session, the city commission discussed a proposal for landscaping services. During discussions about the city’s sanitation services, the city commission was also considering contracting out for landscaping services. The city received nine proposals.

City staff is recommending a contract with Yellowstone Landscape and the cost of the proposal is about $98,000.

The services would include maintaining turf and ground cover areas, removing litter and yard debris, pruning trees and shrubs, inspecting and maintaining irrigation systems, replacing plant material and “application of chemical agents for control of weeds, plant disease and insects that are harmful to plant growth and/or pedestrians,” the proposal says.

Yellowstone Landscape would visit 24 sites in the city almost every week throughout the year. They would work in the city 46 times during the year.

Greenspace Manager Adrian Langston will manage the contract and will walk the sites with the contractor.

“Also, we’re asking for site specific practices, especially for our parks,” Langston said. “The right of ways are important, the plazas are important too, but the parks are really the centerpiece.”

That could look like leaving some leaves in natural areas in the parks. The city is also going to ask Yellowstone to be meticulous about how they use herbicides in public spaces and to pull weeds during each visit.

The city commission will likely vote on the contract at its next regular meeting.

– City staff also gave an update on capital projects happening in the city, including a few stormwater projects. One of those projects will add catch basins and upsize the pipes at Lakeshore and Wiltshire Drives.

Even with this project, residents will still see water at the intersection, but the project aims to drain the water quicker, said Kristin Moretz, capital projects construction and maintenance director.

Rock will be added at the outfall of the pipe in the South Woods to slow the water down before it gets to Cobbs Creek.

The estimated cost of the project is about $275,000. The city had budgeted $758,000 for the Lakeshore project and will be able to use that difference to tackle other stormwater issues. The city commission will consider a contract with Dewberry for the design of the project for $58,000 at the next regular meeting.

“It would take several million [dollars] probably to eliminate water collecting on the site because of the grade of the property. What we’re trying to do is increase our capacity for removing water from the site,” Bryant said.

The city is also working on a stormwater project on Dunwick Drive. As Dewberry was designing phase two of the project, they shifted their plan. Due to the soil compaction and large rocks in the area, pipes will be installed. Native plants will also be put in the easement.

“We did an environmental assessment,” Moretz said. “This is an ephemeral stream, which means it’s not running all the time. The state of Georgia does allow you to pipe those segments. That is the path we’re going with now…I think it will end up being a little bit safer.”

The funding is in place for the U.S. 278 complete street project, Bryant said. The city met with the contractor and consulting firm on April 25 to kick off the construction process.

“At this point, given the fact that the kick of meeting is [Thursday], we do not have any additional logistic information regarding the phasing of the project. That will be developed soon,” Bryant said. “But needless to say, once the kick-off meeting happens, it’s hit the ground running time.”

The city will spend the next 45–60 days planning for construction and hopes to break ground in June.