Blogs

Great news, neighbors! Our Friday Playgroup is now officially open to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers — and their grown-ups too.

 Fridays  4:00–6:00 PM  Underwood Hills Park

Whether you have a wiggly baby, a curious toddler, or an energetic big kid, this is a relaxed, come-as-you-are space to play, explore, and connect. Bring a blanket, bubbles, scooters, or just yourselves. Older kids can run and play while little ones crawl, toddle, and take it all in. No sign-up, no pressure - stay for 10 minutes or the whole time. It’s all about building community and giving kids (and parents!) a fun way to start the weekend together. Snacks and drinks provided for kids - and adults!

Spread the word and bring a friend. We’d love to see you there this Friday! 

A stellar crew including neighbors, UHNA Youth Committee and Scout Troupe 1906 joined Trees Atlanta to cleanup overgrown parts of Underwood Hills Park Saturday.

Before starting we were also joined by Parks Arborist staff with heavy equipment, trimming high branches around the playground.

Next Trees Atlanta workday is scheduled for January 10. Sign up at treesatlanta.org

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The December 2025 ATL Zoning 2.0 Newsletter is now available. It includes outcomes from the testing process and important information about the upcoming adoption process. You can read the newsletter at the link below:

ATL-Zoning-December-2025-Update.pdf

This Friday, December 19, 2025, we will also release Draft V2 of the ATL Zoning 2.0 Zoning Ordinance and Official Zoning Maps. These materials will be available for review at the link below:

ATL Zoning 2.0 | Atlanta's new Zoning Ordinance for the 21st century

Public comments will be accepted through April 8, 2026. Comments may be submitted directly through the website above (preferred) or emailed to atlzoning2@atlantaga.gov.

Please feel free to share this information with others who may be interested.

Thank you for helping to shape Atlanta’s new Zoning Ordinance.

Best regards,

The Community Leadership Institute of Atlanta (CLIA) is offered by the City of Atlanta Department of City Planning in partnership with Clark Atlanta University’s Office of Online Learning & Continuing Education. 

CLIA equips Atlanta residents with knowledge, skills, and tools to create meaningful, community-driven change. Grounded in Atlanta’s rich legacy of activism, neighborhood leadership, and civic participation, the program explores the Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) system, the social movements that shaped the city, and practical leadership strategies for today’s challenges. 

Participants learn how to navigate local government, build inclusive coalitions, communicate effectively, and apply ethical, culturally responsive approaches to community development. Whether you are stepping into neighborhood leadership for the first time or expanding your impact, CLIA helps you lead with clarity, purpose, and resilience. 

Spring 2026 Semester (February – May 2026) 

Program Format: In-person, virtual, and hybrid 

Schedule: Every other Tuesday, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Including 2 Saturdays, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM 

Location: Clark Atlanta University + historical and civic sites across Atlanta 

Program Cost: The Community Leadership Institute is free and made possible through public funding and City of Atlanta resources. 

For more information, visit NPUAtlanta.org. 

One of Underwood Hills worst kept secrets is that the Friday Playgroup is a great place for adults to hang out for an end of the week 'chill'. In fact some of the best networking and idea hashing has happened at playgroup.

Don't feel like you have to kidnap a child to bring if you don't have your own! This Friday is the last Playgroup of the year. Come along and join the fun, 4-6pm (or until you leave 😉

Dates for 2026 are available to signup and host.

In the last 2-week period (Nov 29 - Dec 12), 27 incidents were reported in Beat 204.  Of those, two were reported in the area we patrol.  One involved a missing juvenile that later returned home.  The other involved a package theft from a residence on Ridgeway on December 11 at 1:56 AM.  Footage of this incident was shared with the patrol and we are on the lookout for the individual responsible.  A few still photos:

The new UHNA Playgroup Chair Maria Jones will be hosting this Friday December 12.

Come along, say hi, signup to host next year and make a donation to Playgroup.

Details here; https://underwoodhills.org/groups-committees/

Thank you to all that attended the December 8 UHNA GM. After updates from various Execs and Sub-committee chairs the annual election for all positions was held. No seats were contested, all nominees were duly elected for 2026, including a new Playgroup/Social Chair Maria Jones. We're still looking for a Traffic Chair, which can be appointed interim during the year.

We also had some very exciting news from Elizabeth at UWCID that they will be partnering with local resident Jennifer Reves (who led the Playground bleechers mural ) and her company's Experiential Design team at IA (35+ designers) for a design of a mural on the wall at Collier Rd/Wood Hills overpass. Three concepts will be presented for community input early next year.

The Steering committee will meet in January to finalize the 2026 budget for a vote in February.

Saturday December 13 is the next Trees Atlanta workday in Underwood Hills Park.

The Forest Restoration team will be there to focus on cleaning up some of the plantings from earlier workdays that have become overgrown.

Volunteers that have completed Tree Pruning 101 training can assist trimming trees. UHNA can sign off on Community Service Hours for APS students.

sign up at Treesatlanta.org (search for Underwood Hills). Be sure to wear appropriate clothing.

Tools provided by Trees Atlanta.

Refreshments provided by UHNA.

E Rivers has a concert today so no official host, just BYO snacks and refreshments.

Playgroup resumes next Friday and the last for the year is December 19.

underwoodhills.org has a new home

The UHNA website was migrated to a new host over Thanksgiving, thanks to our webmaster, local resident and former Kilometer Kids site lead Sachin Gupta! Sachin has implemented improved color contrast (especially helpful for sight-impaired) and other improved functionality such as more easily accessible language translation and search.

If you notice anything odd please let us know; uhadmin@underwoodhills.org

NPU-D meeting update, Affordable Spirits club

UHNA NPU-D Rep Eva Nason reports from the 11/25 NPU-D meeting;

"The Affordable Spirits rep showed a lot of pictures of the proposed development V-25-199 but there was no "revising of the numbers." An invitation to present to UHNA was not made because the consensus was pure denial of their request.

UHNA Security Patrol coordinator Jamie Hargarher also participated to speak against and say, yes, we should absolutely vote the parking variance application down again, which we did. The applicant's representative wanted us to defer the issue so that he could come to the next UHNA meeting to present, but we motioned to outright, once again, oppose the application. It was carried by a pretty good turnout of people who were there for a Bolton issue.

Toys & Tots @ 1824 Defoor

Sarah Byrd

Property Manager | 1824 Defoor Apartments | RAM Partners, LLC
1824 Defoor Avenue | Atlanta, GA 30318

Elections aren’t over yet! Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in several Atlanta City Council and Atlanta Board of Education races during the general election, Atlanta residents will head back to the polls for a runoff on December 2, 2025.

While the deadline to register to vote in the runoff has passed, you do not need to have voted in the general election to participate in the runoff. If you’re registered, you can vote.

Early voting runs from Saturday, November 22 through Wednesday, November 26. Here are the races still to be decided:

• Atlanta City Council District 7
• Atlanta City Council District 11
• Atlanta Board of Education District 2
• Atlanta Board of Education District 6
• Atlanta Board of Education Seat 8 At-Large (ALL Atlanta voters will vote on this seat)

You can find more details about each seat at VoteATL.org.

In the last 2-week period (Nov 1 - 14), 42 incidents were reported in Beat 204.  Of those, 2 occurred in the area we patrol.

• November 12, 2025: A black male emerged from a white sedan and stole packages from the front porch of a residence on Seaboard Ave.  The doorbell video provided does not reveal enough details of the suspect or vehicle to make any identification.  Report was made on November 16.
• November 14, 2025: Gunshots overnight resulted in a bullet passing through the rear wall of a residence on Harper Street and entering a kitchen cabinet.  Residents discovered the damage later in the morning.  APD responded to process the scene and made a report.  The incident is under investigation by the Aggravated Assault Unit.  Two 911 calls were received by APD around 3:00 AM but no suspects, victims, damage, or crime scene was located at the time.

A summary of activity reported in the surrounding area:

Significant incidents:

• Aggravated Assault:
  • November 1 - A landlord tenant dispute on Noble Creek Drive resulted in multiple windows being shattered with a hammer.  The complainant no longer wishes to cooperate with the investigation.
  • November 14 - Harper St residence damaged by gunfire.  Summarized above.

Det. Kevin Leonpacher
Atlanta PD / Underwood Hills Patrol

Update on Variance for 1151 Chattahoochee Ave.

As announced in an earlier post, the application was reviewed at the UHNA Steering Committee meeting Oct 27. The meeting resolved to request that NPU deny the variance, citing several reasons, and requested UHNA NPU-D Rep Eva Nason share this at the meeting.
Eva provides this post-meeting update;
"We were successful at the regular NPU-D meeting in voting to oppose the variance application to the Board of Zoning Adjustment to reduce parking from 135 spaces to 20 spaces in connection with the development of a sports bar in the back of the building which houses Affordable Spirits at 1151 Chattahoochee Ave.

Interestingly enough, the applicant was not present. The vote taken on the motion to deny this variance was large (in the vicinity of 113-13 in favor of the motion) because there was an item on the agenda involving the Bolton Neighborhood which had called forth a large contingent of Bolton residents.

This variance application will be handled by the BZA at its meeting at 11am on November 13 at City Hall at which the public is allowed to speak."
All concerned residents are encouraged to attend and speak if they so wish.
A copy of the reasoning presented to NPU-D is below.

Previously we invited concerned residents to attend the hearing in November however it looks like V-25-0199 will be deferred on 11/13 for several reasons:

1. It was not posted,
2. The applicant has requested deferral, and
3. The application is being amended with different numbers

The applicant would like to come back to NPU-D (and actually show up this time) to present the amended application.
UHNA has also requested the applicant present to the General Meeting December 8.
UHNA has written to BZA reiterating the community request to deny and will keep the community informed on the amended application.

Don't you just love elections!? Just when you thought we're done we have another [small] one for you; the annual election of UHNA Executive and Sub Committee Chairs.
Voters and nominees must be current UHNA members. (join or renew here)

• Meeting details are on the Calendar.
• Check out the state of play here;​
• To learn more about the various roles, check out the UHNA bylaws and info on the various activities. 

If you're interested in one of the positions, or assisting on a sub-committee, please send an email to uhadmin@underwoodhills.org Subject 2026 election before the meeting, or email any of the Leadership team with questions.