Developers Wink, LLC and Architects Studio SOGO have are requesting rezoning for four consolidated lots near Chastain Park in North Atlanta to develop a “Cluster Development” which would create eleven new homes and a future four-acre park. The project would replace three existing homes on four lots that make up the property with eleven new detached homes to be tightly clustered in two rows parallel to Wieuca Road.
The project is seeking a zoning change from R-4 (Single-family residential) to PD-H (Planned housing development) which would give significant more leeway for how the development could be designed. According to the project’s rezoning application, the project would still have a lower floor-to-area-ratio than the existing R-4 zoning allows, but is more in keeping with with the Comprehensive Development Plan which calls for development in this area to follow a “low-density residential and open space” framework, also known as Cluster Development.
“Cluster Development” is a development pattern which opts to maximize open space while minimizing redundant utilities and amenities by only developing a certain portion of a property and leaving the rest as either private or public open space. Rather than each house getting a moderately-sized individual yard spread out across the development, the houses share access to a much larger open-space area with community amenities. In doing so, the development does not fragment the ecology of the property and often makes construction more affordable.
This project in particular, titled Chastain Haus @ West Wieuca, would feature the aforementioned eleven single-family homes along Wieuca Road, served by an access drive between the two rows. Each home is expected to be a three-bedroom, three-bathroom single family residence that will be sold at market-rate for an estimated $800,000 to $1 million each.
The homes would be directly adjacent to a four-acre park, which would expand northeast from the developed areas. The proposed parkland backs up to Nancy Creek and is at least partially in the floodplain, which probably inspired the developers to pursue the cluster development model.
No details have been released about specifics for the future public park, except that it would be open to the public via Wieuca Road via a pedestrian access running down the west side of the property. The City and the developers will likely have to come to a management agreement before the project can move forward. The application also specifies that 27 trees will be removed and replaced during the development, to be planted throughout the park and along Wieuca Road.
The project was reviewed by Neighborhood Planning Unit – B yesterday, September 7th, and is set to be reviewed by the Zoning Review Board on either October 7 or 14, 2021.
