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Atlanta City Council Member Mary Norwood has taken up the cause of stopping inappropriate infill development in some of Atlanta's intown neighborhoods where developers are tearing down homes and building MacMansions. Atlanta has a bigger problem that Columbia's, but Columbia has a way of trying to emulate Atlanta and Charlotte. Let's hope we don't go down the uncontrolled infill development path, but follow Atlanta's efforts to control that development. A quote from an editorial by Mary Norwood published in the Journal-Constitution Tuesday, January 31, 2006: "The problem is that some are prepared to "kill the goose that lays the golden egg." Anyone can drive around town and see parcels that have been redeveloped without any effort to fit into the existing neighborhood. This kind of development imposes a cost on the surrounding community. Much of a home's value comes from the character of the area, the charm of the neighborhood, and the physical condition of the streetscape. One "McMansion" can depress property values of nearby homes. Our residents know this. They are concerned. They turned to us, their elected representatives, for help." Ms. Norwood was instrumental in getting a moratorium on new construction in January 2006. However, that was overturned at the February Council meeting after intense lobbying by the Atlanta Board of Realtors and developers. A working group has organized to draft a new zoning ordinance for Atlanta to address appropriate infill development. The members include the Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board, the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, the Atlanta Chapter of the Urban Land Institute, the Georgia Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, the Georgia State University Heritage Preservation Program, the Georgia Institute of Technology City and Regional Planning Program, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Atlanta Preservation Center. Columbia would be wise to take a look at Atlanta's efforts and revise ordinances as well. Please take a look at her web site (http://www.marynorwood.com/) for more information. The Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has participated in an exhaustive study and has made recommendations for guidelines for infill development in Atlanta. IN THE NEWS FROM ATLANTA Council to vote on new zoning ordinance By DAVID PENDERED The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on 08/17/07 Two years ago, Atlanta's white-hot intown housing market turned neighbor against neighbor as residents fought over a torrential trend of tearing down older homes and replacing them with million-dollar houses that towered over the neighborhood. "It was a frightening time," said Dianne Olansky, a neighborhood leader in the Morningside area. "You'd go down a street in the morning and come back in the afternoon and a house was gone, demolished in a day. The face of the neighborhood where you live and work was changed in a day." Some homeowners wanted top dollar and a quick sale, and they flocked to developers who'd pay $250,000 for a house just to tear it down. The land was that valuable. Now, after two years of back-and-forth negotiations, a compromise has been reached. The Atlanta City Council's Zoning Committee voted unanimously for the proposal earlier this month and the council is scheduled to vote on it on Monday. Read more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution... Some Cobb homeowners fear 'McMansion' trend By BILL HENDRICK, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on 08/19/07 Frank Coyne never thought that what he saw on the battlefield would happen right next door. But one day he woke up to find that his neighbor's house in upscale east Cobb had been flattened as if by a bomb. And then homebuilders began putting up a McMansion that's made his 1970s-era home look "like a little barn" in comparison. Read more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution... |