What started out as an ambitious example of planning and zoning reforms has been trimmed back to respond to opposition from neighborhood groups—and the threat of secession from one neighborhood in particular.
David Pendered, reporter for SaportaRepoort, updates the ongoing evolution of one the biggest planning stories in Atlanta (which makes it one of the biggest planning stories in the nation) after the City Council made significant amendments to the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP):
Atlanta on Tuesday advanced an amended long-range development plan that eliminates major objections raised by residents and instructs city planners to abide by state rules on community involvement in future planning.
Pendered has been documenting the pushback against some of the more progressive reforms originally proposed for the CDP. Pendered reported when neighborhood groups from all over the city signed a letter to oppose the CDP earlier this month, and when the City Council stalled the progress of the CDP in September.
The latest action of the City Council, "dashes plans by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration to adopt urban affairs and housing proposals from the Biden administration," according to Pendered.
Mayor Keisha Bottoms, who decided not to run for reelection after emerging as a strong voice in support of pro-development planning reforms as a policy response to population growth and the resulting demand for housing. Mayor Bottoms has championed the Atlanta City Design vision created in 2017, which echoed reforms supported by the Biden administration.
Pendered's article provides more detail on how the amendments, written early last week by the Atlanta City Council’s Community Development and Human Services Committee, altered the direction of the DCP. A Tweet from the Atlanta Department of City Planning announced the full council adopted the DCP on Thursday, October 28, sending it on to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for final approval.
While the most recent story doesn't mention the extra context provided by a political movement for the affluent neighborhood of Buckhead to secede from the city of Atlanta, Pendered mentioned that angle in previous coverage. Time will tell if the amended DCP is enough to keep the residents of Buckhead from setting up a separate government.
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