Dunwoody's City Council approved indoor pickleball courts at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta on Monday, Sept. 28, ending weeks of pushback from neighbors over noise.

The council granted the permit after the MJCCA redesigned the facility with stronger sound barriers, Appen Media first reported. Council members Joe Seconder and John Heneghan voted against the plan. Council Member Tom Lambert was absent.

The changes matter for eight single-family homes on Dunwoody Glen that sit across from the facility's south side. The MJCCA dropped two "garage-style" doors from the building design, replacing them with four solid walls. A second layer of acoustic fencing will face those homes. The center will also plant 59 evergreen trees as visual and sound buffers, and the building's height was cut by 4 feet.

The redesign will cost more than six figures, MJCCA CEO Jared Powers said.

"Up until a couple weeks ago, we didn't know there were any complaints from anybody," Powers said at the meeting. "For two years, we didn't receive a complaint."

Dunwoody Glen resident Ann Ahern told the council the MJCCA had violated three of five conditions imposed when the center's 12 existing outdoor courts were approved. She called for shorter hours of play and compliance with the city's noise ordinance.

Heneghan said he appreciated the design changes but voted no, citing "data coming from some residents" that showed noise levels beyond what was "allowable." At the council's Sept. 14 public hearing, Heneghan had pressed MJCCA leaders directly, asking, "Are you a good neighbor?" as Rough Draft Atlanta reported.

Council Member Rob Price, who voted yes, said the fully enclosed building shifts the conversation to the 12 outdoor courts already in use. Mayor Lynn Deutsch directed community development staff to work with the MJCCA and neighbors on outdoor-court noise going forward. No timeline for that process has been announced.

Ahern said after the vote that the council addressed neighbors' concerns as well as it could within the meeting's time constraints but called the effort "ongoing work."

Rezonings and permits

The council also approved rezoning three parcels on Spalding and Roberts drives from R-100 to R-60, clearing the way for a 24-lot subdivision by The Providence Group. The development will straddle the Sandy Springs city limit. Three homes will sit inside Dunwoody, with the rest in Sandy Springs. DeKalb County will provide fire, emergency medical and sanitation services for the Dunwoody-side homes, while Dunwoody police will patrol them. Students will attend DeKalb County Schools.

In a 5-1 vote, the council rezoned 4891 Ashford Dunwoody Road from office-institutional to Perimeter Center zoning. A medical office building on the site will be demolished and replaced with 33 for-sale townhomes, four stories tall with a maximum height of 50 feet. A representative for the developer said every unit is expected to be "elevator-ready," with stacked closets designed for installation, after requests from older adults.

The council also granted a special-use permit for SmartMed to open a drive-thru urgent care at 125 Perimeter Center West, a former bank building. The location will have two drive-thru lanes and plans to see six cars per hour. It will be SmartMed's second location after its Roswell site.