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Some Dunwoody council members have concerns that the city doesn’t have enough shovel-ready projects to justify a bond referendum.
The city initially viewed a list of capital projects that needed funding at its annual retreat in March and voted to create a Capital Prioritization Committee in April. The committee was tasked with narrowing that list ahead of a possible bond referendum, which is a voting process that would allow voters to decide if a city should be authorized to raise funds for specific projects through bonds to be paid back over time.
The Capital Prioritization Committee has met multiple times since and the city has held multiple town halls to gather feedback from residents. The Dunwoody City Council has previously discussed concerns about finishing certain projects in the allotted bond time frame. According to the city’s attorney and financial advising team, if a bond referendum passed and bonds were issued, the city would have three years from that issuance date to spend 85%.
The council continued to discuss concerns about timing at its June 11 meeting. According to city staff, the council would have to decide whether to move forward with a bond referendum by the end of this month.
“I’d rather have more shovel-ready projects,” Mayor Lynn Deutsch said. “That’s just where my head is in terms of trails. I think there’s too much discussion out there. I think we have had some community misunderstandings, and I think we need to take a step back.”
The draft list that was presented to the council at the July 11 meeting had trail projects listed. During the meeting, some council members said they would feel more comfortable with a list that was park-specific. Since then, a shortened draft list has been posted to the city’s website ahead of a July 15 public meeting that includes park projects only.
The projects included on the online draft list are:
- $10 million for implementing park design for a park at Roberts Drive
- $10 million for citywide parks land acquisition
- $5 million for Brook Run Park enhancements
- $8 million for implementing park design for a park at Vermack Road
- $2 million for competing park construction at Waterford Park
A lot of the conversation around the draft list at the July 11 meeting had to do with trail projects and if they were far enough along to consider including in a bond. Public Works Director Michael Smith previously said that he didn’t feel comfortable that the city could get some trail projects done in three years.
Councilmember Rob Price brought up the idea of using bond funds to design trails and not necessarily to build them, but Mayor Lynn Deutsch said she did not feel comfortable including the trail projects.
“I have concerns with the multi-purpose trails that were not far enough … along in the process to be able to succinctly describe where the funds would go,” she said.
Councilmember John Heneghan was not at the July 11 meeting, but has previously stated that he would be in favor of postponing a bond referendum. Councilmember Catherine Lautenbacher said she did not feel ready to move forward, but would feel better about a list that was parks-specific.
Deutsch expressed concern over whether to include park projects at Roberts Drive and Vermack Road on the list. According to the city’s website, the plans are still in the draft stage. Councilmember Stacey Harris said she thought the general category of land acquisition should be removed from the draft list. The parks projects and land acquisition are included on the new list posted to the city’s website.
“I don’t think that we’re at a place where we’re going to put $10 million for land acquisition on a bond in November because we’re not doing anything with the land that we have now,” Harris said.
Harris said she wasn’t ready to give up on the possibility of a bond referendum this year, but she wanted to make sure that the projects included were achievable. Price said he believed the city could put together a list in time for a bond this November.
“I think with a little bit of elbow grease, we could get to a workable list in time to put something before the voters this fall,” Price said. “I also appreciate the concerns of the rest of the council.”
Councilmember Tom Lambert also said that while he understood other councilmembers’ concerns about creating a workable list before the end of the month, he didn’t think the council could afford to kick the bond down the road.
“I believe this is something that’s very important for the city, and I don’t think there’s ever going to be a perfect time to do it,” Lambert said. “The longer we wait, the more it’s going to cost us in the long run, because [of] building costs, inflation.”
Lambert said if the council did decide to postpone the bond, he wanted to make it clear to staff that he would like to try for a bond again as soon as possible.
“Nothing is going to happen in the other parks without bond money,” Lambert said. “If we want these parks, and if we want to develop them … the public is going to have to make a decision as to what they want.”
The bond referendum list is expected to go back before the council at its July 25 meeting. According to the city’s website, the Capital Prioritization Committee will meet on July 15 at 8 a.m. at Dunwoody City Hall to discuss the list further. That meeting is open to the public.
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