We did it! Summary Link / Summary Notes (COA) / How to Comment (to COA) / Summary Notes (Neighbor)

Neighbors! Your voice has been heard!

Admittedly, the zoning rules for our wonderful multi-family community have always been a bit of a mess and the city zoning team had a big challenge in front of them; your positive input to the process helped get us to a better place.

The final draft of the updated zoning rules does appear to codify the current amalgam of guidelines to be more consistent and also preserve our street and structure layout (as a few of us interpret it…but please make your own determination and feedback for the new “N5A” plan!)

—— SUMMARY LINK FROM COA ——

Hi,


Here’s the link I mentioned:

RG-2, RG-3 Conversion Updates | ATL Zoning 2.0

—— SUMMARY NOTES FROM COA —

Hi,

 

The 7-foot side setback is being reduced in all neighborhood-scale districts to better reflect existing built patterns. When the 7-foot setback was created in 1982, it was an arbitrary number that did not reflect the actual built setbacks of neighborhoods. We have measured thousands of lots and found that historic side setbacks are less. In fact, they are often asymmetrically applied such that a home is closer to the side on one side in order to fit a drive yon the other side. This pattern is prevalent on historic houses on St. Charles and Greenwood.

 

You can learn more about the extensive measurement process used to inform this below (scroll down to “existing pattern analysis):

Explore and Learn — ATL Zoning 2.0

 

A key goal of the rewrite is to make sure that the zoning standards actually reflects the physical patterns of neighborhoods.


—— HOW TO COMMENT TO COA ——


Hi,

 

One more thing…

 

Yes, you may submit via Konveio or atlzoning2@atlantag.gov.


— SUMMARY NOTES FROM YOUR NEIGHBOR —


Spent more time reviewing N5A and it is certainly much much better than UG3A-R2 in my opinion.   It also appears that we gain some advantages over the current RG-2 rules for keeping new development closer to the majority single family home shapes that we have now.  Overall I am seeing upside.   Please let me know if anyone is seeing a downside or big downside. 

 

Wins with N5A:

 

Height:  2.5 Stories Max is much better than our current ‘Unlimited’ under RG-2.  (On a side note, when we were renovating some 12 years ago, I was told in person of a max height and adhered to that number of I believe 35’.  Oh well, couldn’t imagine building any higher)

 

Façade Width:  40’ Max is a big win.  (To Caleb’s point, I was unaware of the ‘unlimited’ allowance under the current RG-2)

 

Front Setback:  Block average I would argue is a win, certainly over UG3A-R2 which had 5’ min and the crazy 15’ max.   (Only downside I see here would be the side streets, mainly Frederica between St. Charles and Greenwood as the existing condo/apt. blocks have little setback.   Those 3 or so in-between houses could be built out, but lot size is probably too small to make it worth it.)

 

Building Coverage:  65% is a win.  

 

Rear Setback:  7’ certainly allows trees to be planted even if there is an alley.

 

Transition:  I don’t fully understand the vocabulary/definitions here.  If I could search all of their new documents/proposals as one PDF, I would be much more motivated to understand height plane and N5A transition rules.

 

Side Setback:   I think 7’ is better for firefighting/emergency access and such, but I guess the 3’ + 10’ is a reasonable compromise.   

 

I just checked the link and no one has added comments yet.  I guess we need to be mindful of owners being against the N5A plan……………

(That link:  https://www.atlzoning.konveio.com/rg-2-rg-3-conversion-updates)

 

Much appreciation to everyone for their work and help getting us this far!!!

 

Best,

Jerry




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