Council Denies Briarcliff Library Rezoning

Friends of Briarcliff Park and the North Druid Hills Residents Association won a round Tuesday night in their battle against rezoning of the former Briarcliff Library property.

However, the question remains whether there are funds for their wish -- to turn the area around the library into a park.

The District 2 Community Council quickly voted to deny rezoning of the library property, 2775 Briarcliff Road, from RM-150 to Office-Institutional. The council heard from Library Director Alison Weissinger, Alan Pinsker of NDHRA and Susan Coryell, executive director of the Friends of Briarcliff Park, along with some residents.

The council vote is simply the first step in the process, and the matter now moves to the Planning Commission on Jan. 7.

The county law department said greenspace funds cannot be used to pay for the library property. Weissinger said she has been working with Commissioner Jeff Rader on exploring the option of subdividing the property in a way that allows the county to sell parts of the building property with a portion now in the floodplain designated for greenspace use.

Park supporters are hoping to connect library property with unused property owned by the school district behind Margaret Harris Comprehensive School to create the new park. They have approached school board member Marshall Orson with the proposal.

Weissinger said she is trying to get more information by the Planning Commission meeting.

Pinsker told the council that there was no need to rezone the property to Office-Institutional as he said the library has had interest from parties under the current zoning. "Rezoning shouldn't be about the monetary gain of the county," he said, but about the wishes of the neighborhood.

Pinsker also updated the council with the early master plan for the park. The neighborhood groups retained a land planner who drew up a rough draft over the past two weeks.

Coryell, who lives directly across the street from the library, told the council of the community's efforts to come together to oppose the rezoning and to create a park. Volunteers canvassed over 400 homes, set up a Facebook page and created an email list.

"I don't want to live across the street from an office," she said.

Other spoke briefly in favor of the park, including City of Briarcliff Initiative board member Don Broussard.