Windward Food Drive to Refill Depleted Food Pantry

The Alpharetta community for the third year is sponsoring the drive to help North Fulton Community Charities on Saturdy, Sept. 8.

The third annual Windward Food Drive supporting North Fulton Community Charities is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8. The organizers of the drive say every September food supplies at the NFCC food pantry run dangerously low, as donations during the summer months run well below average. Food donated by Windward for the past two years – more than 4.5 tons of it – has provided a boost to their inventories. On an average day, NFCC distributes food to 175-200 families. NFCC is the primary charity providing this kind of aid to those in need in North Fulton. For information, visit the Windward Food Drive website. Windward Food Drive North Fulton Community Charities has an immediate need for the following items (listed in order of greatest need)  …

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Karate Atlanta Can't Teach at its Alpharetta Offices

The owners of the company, which has 11 martial arts studio locations, wanted to teach how they are successful at corporate headquarters, but Alpharetta City Council said no.

A corporate office for a local martial arts studio chain won't be holding classes in its headquarters because a majority of the Alpharetta City Council couldn't find a compelling reason to change the Windward Master Plan. Karate Atlanta has its corporate offices within the 400 North Business Park at 1111 Alderman Drive, Suite 435. Joy Kandrick of Karate Atlanta told Alpharetta City Council at its July 23 meeting that the classes would not be the same as at one of the company's 11 martial arts studio locations. "This is going to be mostly business, a lot less kicking and punching," she said. The owners of Karate Atlanta have 11 studios when many martial arts businesses are struggling to keep a single location open, Kandrick said. How Karate…

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Milton, Alpharetta Residents Want GA 9 to Look Different Than Deerfield, Windward

LCI study reveals residents prefer passive recreation such as trails and greenways over ball fields and playgrounds.

Milton and Alpharetta residents had another chance Thursday night at Milton City Hall to tell the cities' planners how they want to see the Highway 9-Deerfield Parkway area develop in the next 10 to 20 years. The more than 500 residents who have taken part in the Georgia 9 Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study so far have definite opinions on what should be done. The idea is to figure out "how do we shape our communities over the next five to 10 years in a way that's positive and meets the needs of the citizens," said Eric Bosman of Urban Collage, the consultant on the project. Bosman said the consultants quickly learned from local residents in October 2010 that "You can't treat Windward and Deerfield the same way you treat Highway 9." …

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WARM Honors Windward Retiree for Dedication to Community

Don Blaine was presented the group's annual Founders Award for decades of service.

Retirement doesn't stop a man like Don Blaine from contributing to the community, and the Windward Association of Retired Men (WARM) presented its annual Founders Award to him for his “many years of dedicated service to our organization and community.” Showing he's not only in his work for the community, the award was presented jointly by last year’s Founders Award recipient Travis Mills and former recipient Bob O’Hagan. The ceremony took place Jan. 9 during the weekly breakfast meeting of the organization at Artuzzi’s Italian Kitchen restaurant in Alpharetta. Blaine’s instrumental role in establishing mutually beneficial relations between the WARM group and the city of Alpharetta beginning in the late 1980s was highlighted in the …

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Letter to the Editor

Mother of Amana Academy Students Challenges Opponents to Engage with School

Seeing the Future: Vision or Status Quo

Early this morning, my sons’ school was denied the opportunity to purchase the 5905 Windward property, which would have provided for perfect alignment with the school’s educational platform, purpose, and mission which is providing excellence and leadership within the scope of expeditionary learning. As a business professional and current MBA/ MPA candidate, I understand the intricacy and legitimacy of private and public concerns. However, I am saddened—not for my sons or the school—but for the Windward area. Our request for the Conditional Use Permit, or CUP, and the eventual variance to the Master Plan would have changed the use of the area. I brought my sons to the meeting for a variety of reasons, mainly to show them how government …

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Alpharetta to Hear Amana Academy's Request to Move to Windward

UPDATE: Fulton Science Academy asks city to defer its public hearing.

UPDATED 6 a.m., Dec. 17: Alpharetta City Council will consider on Monday, Dec. 19 if there is a compelling reason to let Amana Academy to relocate its school into a property within the Windward Master Plan area, something not currently allowed. Another public charter school, Fulton Science Academy, asked the city to defer a public hearing on its request for impact fee and building permit fee waivers. That should shorten the meeting by quite a bit for those waiting on the Amana Academy hearing. If you want to get a seat for Monday's hearing, you'd better get to City Hall pretty early, at least by 6 p.m. An overflow crowd is expected and since the city fire marshal has set a limit on how many people can occupy council chambers, rules have …

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Windward Rotary Club Invites Golfers to Bear's Best

The charity tournament will be hosted Thursday, Oct. 27 at the course.

Foursomes will hit the links at Bear's Best in Suwanee on Thursday as the 2011 Rotary Club of Windward Charity Golf Tournament has its shotgun start. The Alpharetta-based club, which meets on Mondays at noon at the Atlanta Marriott-Alpharetta, used the money raised in the tournament for charities including North Fulton Community Charities, The Drake House, Habitat for Humanit-North Central Georgia, the Ed Isakson Family YMCA, two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school and several others. "It's the club's primary fundraiser. One hundred percent of all net revenue goes to support the various charities that we've listed," said John Bowers, the chairman of the Rotary Club's golf tournament committee. "It's also a great opportunity …

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Hundreds of Casual Runners Answer Alpharetta Company's Challenge

LexisNexis Corporate Challenge sends runners–and non-runners–through the corporate neighborhood to raise funds.

LexisNexis issued a challenge to its corporate neighbors in the Alpharetta area, and quite a few of them answered it, putting hundreds of people on the streets running for charity on Thursday, Sept. 15. The Windward Challenge 5K is in its 11th year, but the corporate challenge got its start this year. Equifax, which has offices just across Windward Parkway on Windward Concourse, won the team competition with the most members. This year the nonprofit to benefit will be KaBOOM!, a nationally-known nonprofit that builds and rebuilds playgrounds around the United States. KaBoom! will use the $72,800 to fund a playground for the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club in downtown Atlanta. The organization needs 125 people on Nov. 8 to build that …

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Alpharetta Defers Amana Academy's Windward Rezoning Case

The Fulton County public charter school asked the city to give it time to update its traffic counts, look for other potential sites and seek a compromise with Windward residents.

A controversial rezoning application by a Fulton County charter school has been deferred at the request of Amana Academy. The public charter school wanted to renovate an existing office/warehouse building into a new home for its charter school. But the location is within Pod 14A of the Windward Master Plan development. That section of the master plan has been designated as a business center, which lists permitted uses as “Office-Institution, research and development, office-professional, light industrial and hotel conference center zoning categories.” Because school is not a permitted use, Amana Academy filed an application for amendment to the Windward Master Plan. The Alpharetta Planning Commission heard that application in July, but …

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