Gordon Certain has certainly found his calling: 11 years as president of North Buckhead neighborhood

Gordon Certain proudly introduces North Buckhead's newest park - Little Nancy Creek

Lisa Frank

Gordon Certain admits it’s a fulltime job being volunteer president of the North Buckhead Civic Association (NBCA), “except with a lot less stress,” he smiles.

As a retired manager of business systems at Lockheed and an early expert on computers, he uses those high tech and organizational skills in countless ways to serve the hood. He’s co-written city ordinances, helped win legal battles against powerful developers, has been flooded with angry calls when the city’s water system goes awry, and was instrumental in protecting several acres of valuable green space as public park land.

His first project was establishing NBCA’s website back in 1998, when few nonprofits in Atlanta even had one. Under his watch, the email alert list has grown from zero to almost 1,700, and paid membership has doubled to about 760 households.

We met on a perfect spring day in Buckhead’s newest city park, Little Nancy Creek on Peachtree Dunwoody. “We’ve been watching this property for 10 years,” Certain remarks. It’s a recurring North Buckhead story. A developer wanted to build eight mega-homes on the five-acre site that’s almost all flood plain. Similarly, Certain was involved in acquiring eight acres of wetlands on Emma Lane for the growing Blue Heron Nature Preserve on Roswell, made possible due to illegal actions by a developer.

In creating a detailed map showing how little public green space there was in North Buckhead, he also identified potential parcels that were conducive. He believes that “people who have a plan do better than those who don’t,” adding one never knows when someone will want to donate money for a park.

Two years ago, Certain worked with three other neighborhood presidents to form the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods. The group has mushroomed to include 28 Buckhead hoods. Certain serves as their secretary and parks chair. After all, he has solid experience encouraging two fledgling nonprofits dedicated to new public parks, Friends of Little Nancy Creek Park and the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. Today, both are highly successful independent groups run by their own boards and volunteers. “We’ve created a community that didn’t exist before.”

Among his proudest accomplishments is his role in a massive zoning fight that began in 1999. The outcome affirmed an important boundary where commercial development must stop at the Buckhead Loop, reserving all land behind that line exclusively for residential. Through a grassroots campaign, NBCA raised $15,000 to hire their own legal experts to help the city overturn a court decision that sided with the developer. In addition, 42 other neighborhoods joined the law suit as a sign of support. The intense effort paid off when the Georgia Supreme Court did overturn the original decision, validating the importance of long term land use planning, and upholding the boundary keeping high rise and commercial buildings at bay. “That basically saved the neighborhood,” he says modestly.

When the Atlanta school board opened the new Sarah Smith Elementary School on Wieuca Road this year, Certain realized there was essentially no coordination with city government. NBCA acted to make sure sidewalks were built on the busy thoroughfare, known for cars speeding on its many curves.  Though a vocal group was against sidewalks near their homes, Certain applied his systematic approach to conduct a survey that proved 80 percent of the neighborhood wanted sidewalks so kids could walk to school safely.

He’s also involved in securing the flashing yellow speeding radar signs sprouting up on Wieuca and other parts of North Buckhead, purchased with financial assistance from the Buckhead Coalition.  While flashing a driver’s current speed that makes them slow down, the data is also recorded. However, Certain found the existing software “useless” and rewrote the programming code himself to make it work. Within the first month, 1.4 million records of speeding on Wieuca were documented, overloading the computer’s capacity, yet providing the tangible proof NBCA needed.

Even with tremendous loss of natural habitat to rapid development, North Buckhead is still known for its wildlife sightings. Certain turned it into a popular, participatory game. People delight in sending their stories and photos his way which he includes in email alerts and archives on the website. Coyote. Fox. Owls. Snakes. A wild turkey and much more have been reported. [Photo: Gaylen Baxter]

He and a friend, Sheldon Schlegman, the first chairman of the Atlanta Tree Conservation Commission,  concerned about proposed changes to the city’s tree ordinance, staved off repeated attempts by developers to gut some of its positive impacts. How? For two years, they attended weekly meetings of the city's tree task force to argue with developers on the merit of saving Atlanta’s dwindling tree cover.

“Though it’s still flawed, at least it saves some trees,” Certain offers. It’s an issue dear to his heart since 350 trees were lost right across the street from his home when another huge development turned forested flood plain into McMansions with manicured lawns. Now, developers have to pay to take down trees. The larger the tree, the higher the fee, which makes them think twice about which trees to remove.

Another high profile case that affected development city-wide was known at the time as the "Chick Fil-A Ordinance."  When the fast food shop was encroaching on residential territory at Roswell and Midvale, their building permit was kept secret, circumventing negotations with the neighborhoods.  As a result, a new ordinance now requires that a prominent sign with letters six inches high be posted immediately after a building permit is issued, allowing neighbors to respond and open the dialogue.
In the midst of such conflicts, Certain is calm and patient by nature - the ideal temperament for sailing through political quagmires and disputes between neighbors, developers, politicians and others.

He’s also a survivor of a rare liver cancer where the odds were stacked against all hope of recovery. The experience changed his outlook on life. At 67, he’s “very grateful to be healthy” and attributes it all to “luck.” We’re certain there’s more to it than that with plenty of good reasons he’s still on the case - collaborating with a complex network of stakeholders who work together to protect North Buckhead’s integrity and champion her natural beauty.