Founded in the 1967, Martin’s Landing, the brainchild of developer H. Dean Spratlin, was envisioned as a self-contained community where residents could live, shop, and worship across 1,030 gorgeous acres astride the Chattahoochee River. From a 1973 marketing booklet, “Martin’s Landing is part urban, part rural. It’s a place for kids to play in safety and go to school and learn to swim and ride a horse. It’s a River Club and boat docks and a Village Shopping Center set in the middle of a park.” The Village Center, planned for the base of the community at Riverside Road, would have been “ an array of shops ... food stores, bottle shops, cleaners, sporting goods stores — plus offices for medical care.”

 The plan was largely abandoned and today the resulting neighborhood is residential, albeit one with a school, Esther Jackson Elementary. Eventually 1964 units in 12 distinct subdivisions were constructed, of which 300 were apartments and 170 were condos.

If you enter Martin Road from Holcomb Bridge, you can turn either right or to turn left. Turning right takes you to the original sections of North Shore, Lakeview, and Hillside as well as entry to the condo and apartment communities. As one resident on Trailmore Drive who requested anonymity (“I don’t want everyone to hate me. Even if it’s true”), “Anything left of the entrance is likely better than anything right of it.” At the heart of the unhappiness: the apartment complex and the low-cost condo community potentially driving down property values and quality of life.

The 35 single-family homes (out of approximately 1,175) currently for sale in Martin’s Landing, ranging in price from $398,000 (Northshore) to $119,000 (a rare Leeward Lane foreclosure), are more than reasonably priced for the area and, in a growing economy, could move quickly.The condos are having a much tougher sale. Out of 170 units, 14 are for sale and the price tag ranges from only $109,000/three bedrooms to $59,000/one bedroom. This represents the lower spectrum of condo ownership in the entire ZIP Code, on even par with those on Old Holcomb Bridge Road (that’s horrifiable — so bad, I had to make up a word).

Said resident/jogger Karen Chapman on a recent Tuesday afternoon, “These are not the best condos in Roswell. Not by far.”  She continued, “We feel the apartment complex does not fit a residential neighborhood. There is a big difference between permanent and temporary dwellers.” Although that apartment complex in question, which is called Avistele this month, is one of the safest in terms of crime in the city, aesthetically the buildings could best be described as “warehouse with a balcony.”

Visitor Lena Astrum was pleased by the pictures she saw on the website. “That’s why I came. The nature photos. But looking now, it looks like any other complex.” Complaints on an apartment rating website (68 percent  recommended) mostly have to do with thin walls, noisy children running in the streets and people congregating late at night in the parking lots. And with a $99 move-in special and two bedrooms renting for the low, low price of $775, surrounding homeowners should be concerned. Low property values in the condos as well as the transient nature of apartment life will have a lasting impact on the resident one block over.

Furthermore, while having a neighborhood elementary school would certainly be seen as an undeniable asset for prospective buyers, Esther Jackson’s student population comes largely from apartment communities, such as Avistele and the nearby Kings Bridge. Concurrently, the school has a 49 percent Hispanic population and test scores that are comparatively lower than other schools in the district and in the state. Whatever you might think of race and income levels and the potential for bigotry, these are considerations on which a newcomer will base the decision to move.  Further factoring in the average age of the homes (30-plus years), Martin’s Landing is in its decline and will require strong leadership and change as we go into this new decade. As “Mr. Treemore” replied when asked how he would increase the value of the condo and apartment communities, “Raze them.” With its location and raw beauty, the neighborhood has great bones on which to improve.

Got an ax to grind or has your neighbor borrowed all your tools? Tell the Nosy Neighbor all about it at davisrayner@live.com.