2/19/04 - Castleberry Hill welcomes bookstore

As Carver Bible College strives to expand its campus and get accreditation status, it has one piece still to fit in: a bookstore.

The college came one step closer to that bookstore this week when the Castleberry Hill Neighborhood Association lent its approval to a variance request from H.J. Russell and Co., the developer that will build the bookstore on Northside Drive.

H.J Russell representative Edrich Harris said that his company and Carver Bible College are working out a sort of “land swap” for the bookstore. Carver owns two chunks of the parcel of land bordered by Northside Drive and Tatnall, Nelson and Chapel streets. H.J Russell owns the piece of land in the middle of the lot, and so the two are working through the deal in the name of neighborhood relations.

“We’re just all trying to be a big happy neighborhood and help each other out,” Harris explained.

The zoning for the parcel is industrial, however, quite a heavy use that requires a 40-foot setback from the street. Harris said he figured the zoning dated far back in the neighborhood’s history, when it was Atlanta’s rail hub. Today though, most of the neighborhood is zoned for commercial use, which allows a setback right on the property line. That means that buildings can be situated right on the sidewalk, which is how H.J Russell wants the bookstore to be designed.

The lot is only 100 feet deep anyway, Harris said, so 40-foot setbacks on the front and rear would leave only 20 feet for building, which would make the lot virtually impossible to develop.

In light of that, H.J. Russell is asking the city for a setback variance that will allow a 0-foot setback to be in line with most other neighborhood properties.

What makes the lot even trickier, Harris explained, is that there is a sewer easement running under part of the land. The city owned a small corner of the lot, but sold that to Carver and H.J. Russell. The sewer easement still runs underneath that parcel though, which would mean that anything built on top of it would have to make way for sewer construction should the city see fit. H.J. Russell designed the building, Harris said, to stay out of that easement area.

CHNA approved the variance request Monday night unanimously. Harris said the bookstore would be approximately 1,500 to 1,800 square feet, with about 15 parking spaces in the rear.

In other news, Castleberry Hill residents also gave a thumbs up to Magic City, an adult entertainment club that does not technically lie in their neighborhood. The Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association and its Neighborhood Planning Unit gave their approval to the club’s liquor license previously, but City Council Member Debi Starnes asked the club’s owner and manager to come to CHNA and present their case since the club is very close to the neighborhood.

Downtown residents and the NPU approved of the liquor license request with one stipulation, that it be transferred into owner Marvin Brown’s name as soon as he establishes residency. Brown recently moved back to Atlanta but has not lived here for a year, which is what the city’s liquor license code requires. For now, the license is in manager Stephanie Stokes’ name.

Downtown residents argued that if a license were in an owner’s name, that person would be more likely to take responsibility for what happens at the establishment. Brown agreed to the stipulation and will take over the license in due time.

A representative from Starnes’ office also urged Castleberry Hill residents to forward more properties to that office that are having code compliance problems. The neighborhood had given Starnes a list of problem properties, but six have already complied, so residents will be giving Starnes more addresses to work on.