At Home (Wessyngton & North Highland)

There are some apartments at the corner of Wessyngton and North Highland that have been the focus of some neighborhood controversy. My understanding is that the owner has been trying to sell the property for new house construction, but wanted permission for three houses to be built there instead of only two. Given that any new houses built will almost certainly be Large Houses that are Architecturally Different from Adjacent Houses (LHADAHs), this is not a prospect about which I am enthusiastic. I don't know many of the people who live in the apartments, but the ones I do know are great neighbors and I would miss them if they moved.

Tom and I were discussing this the other evening when we were out walking the dog. He said that the owner had finally gotten permission to have the apartments replaced with three houses instead of two. I said I hoped that didn't happen, and given the current housing market, if the owner had paying tenants, he might be better off hanging on to the apartments. There are two LHADAHs on the street already - one of which has been on the market for months, and the other still under construction - and that seems to me like it might be enough.

Several years ago Trees Atlanta had a Saturday tree planting event in Morningside. The Trees Atlanta planted elms along the curb on the Wessyngton Road side of the apartments, and crepe myrtles along the North Highland side. One of the elms got dug up by a dog the following summer. We replanted it and ferried some gallon jugs of water to the end of street but to no avail. At least one of the crepe myrtles has been taken out by a northbound car that missed the curve on Highland.

For at least the last two years, the elm trees - which were drastically pruned a couple of years ago, and are still not very tall - have provided seasonal residence for birds. There have been birds' nests in two of them, which amazes me. In spite of drought and ongoing tree removal (thank you, City of Atlanta) our neighborhood is still home to wonderful, massive, towering oak trees. Surely there are safer and more secure places to raise a family than in these trees that are not much taller than I am, planted between sidewalk and curb, where meddlesome humans could peer right into one's nest! Perhaps these particular birds are of scared of heights, or paralyzed by fear that their offspring will take a tumble out of the nest. It seems inexplicable to me.

Then over the weekend - probably during one of our several trips back and forth to the movie store - I noticed that there also was a bird's nest in the crepe myrtles. It was meticulously constructed of pine straw (and by an animal that not only doesn't have opposable thumbs, but doesn't have hands). What a marvel.

If we end up with three more LHADAHs on our street, will they leave the little elm trees and the crepe myrtles in place, or will they remove them?