Toll Brothers, a home construction company that will build a student housing complex on Clifton and Briarcliff Roads, has asked to delay development, according to Carl Westmoreland, an attorney representing the company.
Uncertainty about MARTA development plans in the Clifton Corridor is the reason for the requested postponement.
“The applicant [Toll Brothers] and county need more information about the plans and timing for MARTA’s improvements in the area,” Westmoreland wrote in an April 22 to Emory and DeKalb County leaders.
Toll Brothers’ proposed development includes 202 apartment units and would require rezoning the area to allow for a higher density of residents.
The company initially filed a rezoning request in June 2018, which was postponed until May 2019 due to concerns from Emory and other neighborhood representatives about the possibility of increased traffic along Clifton and Briarcliff Roads. A lack of clarity regarding MARTA expansion along the Clifton Corridor was also a factor in the delayed request from June 2018. The original number of units to be built was 374, but Toll Brothers reduced this number in the revised proposal.
In a March 29 email to the Wheel, Emory’s Senior Associate Vice President for Government and Community Affairs Betty Willis said the University was concerned and that Cliff Shuttles are already running at full capacity.
“Emory continues to have concerns about traffic that Toll Brothers will need to resolve, especially due to the existing complexity of the Briarcliff/Clifton intersection and its significance as a key traffic artery for the Clifton Corridor,” Willis wrote. “Any additional shuttle access for the development would require significant investment by the developer.”
Ninad Kulkarni (he/him) (22C) is from Hyderabad, India, majoring in economics and mathematics. You can catch him cheering for Bayern Munich and making poor attempts at playing sports.
