The Atlanta City Council meets on October 28 during a special meeting to adopt CDP Plan A, containing policies and programs on how Atlanta and its neighborhoods will grow. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the Atlanta Regional Commission require Atlanta to adopt and create an implementation plan every five years.
The current CDP must be updated by October 31, 2021. Failure to adopt a plan by the deadline would mean that Atlanta no longer maintains the status of a Qualified Local Government (QLG), resulting in the loss of financial resources used to implement plans, including Community Development Block Grants, economic development funding, and utility loans.
The Plan A update started in August of 2020. According to the City’s website, “planning is done at the city scare-with an emphasis on implementing change.” The overall purpose of Plan A is to align any development occurring in the 25 Atlanta Neighborhoods Planning Units with Atlanta City Design, adopted in 2017, described as a blueprint for the future of Atlanta.
The current draft incorporates nearly a thousand written comments from citizens, NPU’s and other community stakeholders. City Planners also published routine social media posts, website updates and provided presentations to the various NPU’s to inform and engage in conversations surrounding Plan A.
As documented in City materials, several NPU’s opposed the draft plan, indicating that it conflicts with the policies of the 2016 CDP, including balancing development with the preservation of natural resources, stabilizing single-family neighborhoods versus advocating for higher-density, and proactively addressing infrastructure needs before any initiatives to increase Atlanta’s population.
Recommendations in Plan A originally included the ability to subdivide property for one or more dwelling units, allow accessory dwelling units (ADU’s)city-wide to increase affordable housing options, and allow increased density near MARTA rail stations.
City Planners have attempted to address some opponents’ concerns by scaling back minimum lot size requirements and only allowing ADU’s in certain zoning districts.
Plan A is the first update since Atlanta’s Comprehensive Development adoption in 2016.
If approved, Plan A would require the initiation of additional public engagement and outreach during the zoning code revisions to align with the CDP. According to City documents, which is scheduled to start in early 2022.
3 Responses
Last year I sat through a big presentation from the city planning office about how the move away from single-family zoning was necessary to provide more affordable missing middle housing and I totally bought it…yet every rezoning request I have seen seems to be replacing single-family housing with high-density luxury units listed for millions of dollars. My neighborhood just fought off one of these false pretense rezoning requests. I encourage everyone to take a close look at every rezoning request impacting their neighborhood and fight off these cash grabs. And shame on the city for trying to sell us a false narrative. This is about lining pockets, not helping people. I was supportive of mixed use zoning and integrating missing middle into our SFH neighborhoods, but the reality is there is no intention of providing affordable missing middle housing – these new builds will just ensure property taxes skyrocket and those of us in single-family housing will be priced right out of our neighborhoods.
Looks like a thoughtful project that increases density and preserves some greenspace, so I would say this is a win. 18 units instead of 5 units regardless of cost or level of luxury is a win as increasing the total amount of supply is better than doing nothing.
Some will argue that if the housing is at a higher price point, building it is a bad thing. The number of high-income people in the market to buy housing does not change, so these buyers will simply bid up the cost of other housing more affordable regardless. (See Old Fourth Ward and other neighborhoods). At the end of the day, more housing to meet overall supply creates housing for everyone. The most restrictive cities (to development) end up being the most expensive — see San Fran, New York, Boston, LA… On the flip side places like Houston and Dallas remain more affordable because they build a crazy amount of housing. Whether developers get rich doing it, shouldn’t matter. It’s a job with lots of risks — a lot of projects fail, and developers go bankrupt. They put their personal capital at risk. They are the ones building the housing that all of us are living in. If there was more supply, there would be less opportunity for developers to increase supply based on scarcity.
I’ll be moving to Atlanta this spring and I’m gonna be looking for up and coming new construction that’s affordable for all!!