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Settling In

Hello, and welcome to Pine Lake. We’re so glad you’re here, sharing this beautiful community with us.

We’ve all been newbies at one point, and know how overwhelming it can be moving into a new community, finding your way around, meeting the neighbors, figuring out how on earth your furniture will fit into your new place. It can be stressful, but it can be fun, too.

Now, we can’t tell you how to fit the furniture that used to fit into your square living room in your old place, into rectangular living room in Pine Lake.

We can, however, pass along a few tips that will make you transition into Pine Lake just a tiny bit easier.

First things to do as you get settled:

  • Sign up for the Pine Lake Directory.  This will get you on the list to receive emails from the City about what is happening in the city.  
  • Go to the Pine Lake Post Office and get a PO box (free, because home mail delivery is not available in this small city) and give this address to the City Clerk.
  • Register your car in Pine Lake at DeKalb County Dept of Motor Vehicles, 4380 Memorial Dr Ste 100, Decatur, GA 30032 (Pine Lake receives a portion of your registration fee and your insurance tax, so changing your address will ensure that the revenue goes to Pine Lake).
  • Change your address on your driver’s license and change your voter registration – you can do both it at the Georgia DMV Services.
  • Make sure your house number is posted in a conspicuous place visible from the street: at least 3 ft. high, in a contrasting color. This will make it easy to identify your house in case of and emergency.

Tips on Transitioning to Pine Lake:

  • Wave. To everyone. Always.
  • When someone offers you help, take it. They really mean it, and are not “just being polite.”
  • When someone invites you to stop by, do it. They really mean it. (See point above).
  • Check out these sites:  Community Links.
  • Join PLAIN, the neighborhood organization. Meetings are the third Thursday of the month, at 7:00, in the Beach House. (Lakeshore Drive. next to the Beach) Check Community Calendar for any schedule changes.
  • Come to the PLAIN sponsored pancake breakfast the first Saturday of each month from 8:30 – 10:30 AM. This is a great way to meet your neighbors.
  • Take exercise walks early, because mid evening walks consist of walking a few yards, stopping to chat, walking few more yards . . . chatting again. . . and so on and so on – a twenty minute walk can take 2 hours and you end up talking more than walking.
  • Be kind to the lake. Pick up your own mess, and your dog’s mess as well.
  • Be prepared for strangers to ask to walk through your house. It happens. We’re a nosey bunch. Think of it as a kind of initiation.
  • If you need a tool, a hand, a skill . . . ask around. Most likely someone here has it, and is willing to lend it.
  • Relax, You’re home, now.