Will Other Cities Follow the Example of Atlanta’s Zoning Overhaul?

The city of Atlanta, Georgia is (yet again) rewriting its zoning ordinance “to meet the new world challenges and aspirations of a 21st century city”. We’re keeping an eye on the process and encourage you to do the same for a few reasons….

Why Does This Matter to Citizens?
Lack of education is one of the challenges that prevents citizens from being involved in local zoning ordinance issues or a rewrite. There’s an enormous education opportunity when a city with the resources of Atlanta decides to host a series of meetings explaining how a zoning ordinance works.

Many towns don’t have the resources or staff to host a series of educational discussions so we encourage you to consider attending the City of Atlanta meetings so you can learn zoning concepts and what Atlanta is doing to improve its ordinances. That’s a free education PLUS a series of ideas that you might be able to employ in your city.

Of course, if you live in the city, we hope you’ll attend because you’re subject to the ordinance and the coming changes. Residents of cities in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area should also pay attention because zoning staff in the various jurisdictions are watching and may raise these issues in their own cities. In short, the work in Atlanta may inspire your local zoning staff to recommend changes you need to understand before they’re discussed.

We expect this process to become more common as cities move to address housing shortages - or at least shortages of housing that can be afforded by the majority of residents. We’re seeing more discussions around accessory dwelling units and Missing Middle Housing across jurisdictions.

It’s a Process
Atlanta has embarked on a process that will stretch into 2025. They’re working on their first of three sections for public review and have been hosting meetings. The following video is a recording of a live meeting in which the staff spends the first portion introducing the concepts (the very valuable education component) and then answers questions.

The first module, explained in the video above, is Form & Frontage and Use Standards. The second module is Development Standards. The third module is Administration. There will be additional meetings later this year for the subsequent modules.

What’s Not Included?
As noted in the introductory part of the presentation in the video above, there are things that ARE NOT including in the zoning ordinance - even though they may govern building projects. Environmental regulations such as tree protection, stormwater retention requirements, soil erosion and sedimentation protections, floor protection and noise limits are not in the zoning ordinance. These elements, along with others such as the housing code, may be elsewhere in the code of ordinances yet they are not in the zoning ordinance sections.

Building codes are also not included in this discussion. Georgia, thankfully, adopts statewide minimum standards. This is a much better solution than some states like Tennessee and Missouri which adopt building codes on a jurisdictional basis. That can make it hard to have uniform understanding and enforcement across the state.

What to Look For
We’re always wary of zoning ordinance updates because they can change the potential of a property without any action from the home owner. For example, if the zoning ordinance becomes more stringent, then a homeowner can’t complete an improvement that could have been completed under the previous ordinance. That means the property has less potential for development so one could argue less potential for development means less value.

These changes can be subtle as homeowners see proposed changes yet don’t know if their property will be effected. Homeowners should be discussing the proposed changes AND paying close attention to the zoning map. You don’t want to realize the city has rezoned your property by changing a color on a map after the fact.

Typically, a zoning ordinance overhaul has a greater impact on the comprehensive plan - including the future land use map. Still, property owners on the edges of zoning districts should be paying attention to know in advance whether the city is proposing changes on or around their properties.

In Conclusion
The best way to keep up with this process is to check the City of Atlanta web page dedicated to the ATL Zoning 2.0 effort. There, you can find links to past meetings. You can view recordings to catch up on the work to date.

You should also consider signing up for email notifications so you'll be aware of any upcoming meetings. This is a good practice for any major city in your area since smaller cities are often watching the larger cities and may eventually try to emulate (the best practices from) the larger cities.

Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts. Have you participated in a zoning ordinance revision in the past? Was it worth your time? If not, why not? If so, why?

We appreciate you letting us know - thanks!

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