Board of Zoning Adjustment - public_hearing

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Good evening, everyone. My name is Matt Westmoreland. I am chair of the Community Development and Human Services Committee. Welcome to our quarterly public hearing on amendments to the Comprehensive Development Plan. No voting action will be taken on the agenda this evening. The items will be acted on at future CDHS committee meetings. Presentation for the hearing can be found at the CDHS presentation pages of the City Council's website at citycouncil.atlantaga.gov. Public comment sign in has completed. We will take each item separately. I will call up folks who have signed up to speak, public comment at that item. You will have three minutes per speaker. Council staff will now sound the caption of each item, and folks from the Department of City Planning will give a presentation. Item number one.

2601466, CDP 2615. In ordinance to amend the land use element of the 2025 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan so as to redesignate property located at 1425 and 1475 Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard from the industrial to the industrial and high density mixed use to the high density mixed use development pattern designation and further purposes.

Hello, how you doing? This parcel, this CDP amendment is being made in conjunction with the rezoning of the parcel per Z26033 and to allow for the construction of a multifamily residence Central building with 290 units that will be located to the rear of an existing commercial and industrial development. This parcel is located in Blantown neighborhood in PUD and in Council District 9. The western parcel, I'm saying the total parcel is 8.54 acres. The western parcel is developed within industrial warehouses and occupied with offices and restaurant at the rear. The eastern parcel is vacant and undeveloped. The proposed development pattern will have a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhoods by activating a currently underutilized site, increasing the overall housing supply, and increasing more pedestrian activity. The proposed multifamily apartment will provide an appropriate transitional density between industrial and green space use, create more pedestrian connectivity, and add housing stock to the Blantown neighborhood. The site is, as I already said, is developed with office and commercial with a part of the parcel undeveloped, making it an ideal candidate for additional development. Considerable desire was expressed by the public process to improve connectivity, expand open space, increase the supply of affordable housing, and expand the availability of small-scale commercial services. The NPU recommendation, NPUD voted to deny the CDP amendment at the June 23rd, 2026 meeting, and staff recommended approval of the amendment from the industrial to the high-density mixed-use development pattern designation. Thank you.

Thank you. We have one public speaker, Jessica Hill. No. But now you are.

all right uh good evening council member westmoreland council members dozier and winston good to see y'all my name is jessica hill my business address is 600 peachtree street and i represent the applicant just a couple things to note on this site it is the location of bone garden cantina for anybody familiar with that property that commercial development at the front is proposed to stay and at the rear fronting on the belt line which is existing today we're proposing to have multi-family development which is why we're asking for the change Part of the property is already high density mixed-use. So this is just taking the industrial portion and folding it in One thing that's not noted that would not be noted on the screen We do have a recommendation of approval from Blantown from the neighborhood They overwhelmingly recommended support and we have a letter in the file for that And we would ask that you follow the staff and neighborhood recommendation.

Thank you So bone gardens not going anywhere

We hope not.

Excellent.

The building is not, and they're hoping to keep Bone Gardens, so yes.

Fair enough.

Item number two. 260-1467, CDP 2616, an ordinance to amend the land use element of the 2025 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan so as to redesignate property located at 1200 White Street from the industrial to the industrial flex development pattern designation and for the purposes.

Hello, how you doing? This case has been requested to be deferred to the next available CDHS quarterly meeting.

Item number three. 260-1468, CDP 2617, an ordinance to amend the land use element of the 2025 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan so as to redesignate property located at 774 Ponce de Leon Avenue from the medium density mixed use to the high density mixed use development pattern designation and for the purposes.

We have one public comment. Caroline Connerly.

Do you want us to give the staff report?

Sure do.

Okay. Yes, please. Thank you. Sorry.

Hold tight. Good afternoon again. This land use amendment is being done in conjunction with the rezoning for Z26038. Of this parcel along with others from the PDMU, planned development mixed use and C1 community business district to MRC3 mixed residential commercial to allow a multi-story mixed use development with approximately 1,000 square feet of non-residential use and 330,000 square feet of multifamily residential use 375 units for a total of 340,000 square feet. This property is located in Virginia Highlands of the neighborhood of NPUF and Council District 6. The subject property is 0.264 acres. The parcels that are part of this rezoning are approximately 1.75 acres, 76,230 square feet. It is developed with a two-story non-residential building. The properties are primarily developed as non-residential lots and with one developed as a residential use. The current development pattern for the property is medium density mixed use with the 2025 Conference Development Plan. The property is in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood within MPUF, which is near many major nodes of activity in the city, including Ponce City Market, the Eastside Beltline Trail, and Freedom Park. It is also adjacent to many different uses, including industrial areas, non-residential uses, and a large amount of single and multifamily residential neighborhoods. The proposed development pattern allows more density development to be in the areas it is suited for, located at the intersection of multimodal transit options and high-capacity corridor, which preserve the existing character elsewhere in the neighborhood. The Virginia Highlands Master Plan Update 2018 and Ponce-Moreland LCI Study 2025 encourages provide public pedestrian and bike access to the Beltline, encourage high-density housing, and promote reinforcement of the mixed-use nodes at this location. The proposed high-density mixed-use development pattern is incompatible with NPUF policy guidelines. Well, it's compatible with that policy, which is higher density should be at the center or along major roads and highways and transitions to lower densities at the edge to protect and buffer surrounding neighborhoods. NPUF voted to approve this CDP amendment at its July 15, 2026 meeting. And staff recommends approval of the amendment from the medium density mixed use to high density mixed use development pattern designation. Please.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Caroline Connerly. My business address is also 600 Peachtree Street. Our firm represents the applicant, Selig Enterprises, who's actually owned the majority of the property for nearly 60 years. The bulk of the property is Sorry. The bulk of the property is actually already designated HDMU. The purpose of this request is to take a small portion of the property located at 774 Ponce, which as staff noted, is designated medium density mixed use, and bring it into the high density mixed use category so that the entire property will have a cohesive designation in order to accommodate a mixed use development. As staff noted, we have support from NPUF. And as well as the neighborhood. And we would just request that you follow staff's recommendation of approval.

Thank you very much. Sure. Any questions or comments?

I just have a quick question for clarity. So you say that in terms of the high-density mixed use, and you talked about the parcels. Just so I'm clear, what percentage of the parcel will be developed for residential? It sounded like most of it was non-residential. Residential, is that correct?

So part of it is, you want me to answer? Oh, probably not.

Most of it is actually going to be for residential use. What percentage, just curious? Probably, I would say, I'll go 80%. Is that fair?

Jessica Hill, 600 Peachtree Street. It's one mixed-use building that's being proposed. So it's up to 375 multifamily units, and then ground floor commercial, about 10,000 square feet. So the total site is about 1.75 acres, and this piece of property is maybe a quarter of an acre.

1.75 acres to hold 300 units? It'll have up to 375 units, yes. OK. It's a 14-story building.

160 feet is the maximum height, which is consistent with the zoning of the property immediately adjacent as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Sure. Item number four.

2601350, CDP 2618, in ordinance to amend the land use element of the 2025 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan so as to redesignate property located at 1801, 1816, 1819, 1820, 1824, 1828, 1832, and 1836, 2nd Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, and 560 and 562, Fayetteville Road, Atlanta, Georgia, to the low-density mixed-use 596, 600, 604, and 755, Fayetteville Road, Atlanta, Georgia, to medium-lot single-family and 735, Fayetteville Road, Atlanta, Georgia, to the high-density mixed-use land-use designations and further purposes.

Hello, my name is Jessica Landier with the Office of Zoning and Development. And I'll present the staff report for this. The city of Atlanta received a petition to annex these parcels into the city of Atlanta. So there are a total of 15 parcels and 13.6 acres. And they're in DeKalb County, adjacent to the East Lake neighborhood of MPUO. And they have a variety of uses. So they're on Fayetteville Road and on 2nd Avenue. The largest parcel. It has an O&I zoning in DeKalb County. It's developed with a school and a church. And it has a traditional neighborhood development character, which is similar to our development patterns. And then the adjacent parcel and some other parcels have a residential zoning and also a traditional neighborhood character area. And then there's another group of parcels that have a commercial development And then some houses that have commercial zoning. And they have a commercial corridor redevelopment character area in commercial zoning. So as part of the annexation, the city brings those parcels to the closest zoning and land use that the city has. So for the largest parcel where the school is, the proposed land use character area is a high density mixed use with ONI zoning. The single family zone parcels will have that medium lot single family designation. And then the commercial parcels will have the low density mixed use zoning. So it corresponds to the Cap County and also the City of Atlanta zoning. So this is consistent with the the NPUO policies, and one of their policies is to promote the viability of existing businesses to attract and improve business development in East Lake Commercial Hub, which includes the area around the Publix on Glenwood, which is just adjacent to this. So they really want to see that area developed, and I think bringing it into the city will assist with that. NPUO recommended approval of the development pattern amendments at the July meeting. And staff also recommends approval of the medium lot single family and the other, the high density mixed use and the low density mixed use development pattern designation.

Thank you. Any members of the public who would like to speak? I thought. Sure. Evening.

community leaders there with this property. We've been in the area since 1974. Most of this property we're talking about we've owned since then. Some of it we purchased in 1990. It's an Islamic community and we have, I couldn't have presented it any better than what you presented, so we have a lot of community members that live in the area, but we've been serving the broader community for most of those years. The only issue for us was we wanted to develop, we wanted to do some affordable housing and other things, but the city's line cuts right through the property, so rather than trying to deal with DeKalb County and the city, it would be better for us to annex the total property into the city. And so that's the impetus behind this movement. And also to provide some of this affordable housing that the city and the mayor want to do.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all very much.

Any questions or comments, especially from our Eastlake expert?

I guess for me, I think I was just excited. I grew up in that area. I know exactly where you're talking about. So just to be clear, all of the red area, all of the red boundaries, well, all the land within the red boundaries, your organization owns? Yes.

Yes.

Oh, wow. Okay. I mean, I had no clue. Yeah, I literally grew up right at the corner at Glenwood and 2nd Avenue. So I had friends that lived off of Swazi. So no, I mean, I don't have any questions. Just really excited to see you all. Coming to the city.

Yeah. Yeah, everybody is except maybe people in the camp.

Yeah, absolutely We're not worried about them.

I don't number five Thank you very much, thank you 2060 1402 CDP 2620 in order to amend the land use element of the 2025 atlanta comprehensive development plan so as to redesign a property located at the 360 Autumn Lane from the medium lot single development pattern designation to the medium density residential development pattern designation and for other purposes. Yes, hello.

This is Land Use Amendment is being done in conjunction with the rezoning of the parcel to the MR3 to allow for multifamily development at the site. The site is in the Florida Heights neighborhood of NPUI in Council District 10. And it's almost a two-acre site. And it's developed with the 1958 Rosalie Wright Elementary School. And there's also a parking lot associated with that. And it operated as a school until 1991. And then after that, it was converted to an early learning center for 10 years. And it sat underutilized and vacant since 2002. The Atlanta Public School identified eight surplus properties, which included this for redevelopment in partnership with the city of Atlanta as part of the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation. And their APS intends to transform these underlying sites into mixed income housing and community assets in support of the city's affordable housing goal. So APS engaged with the neighbors of the Florida Heights community from January to May to develop a vision for the site. The APS had three requirements, that the site contain affordable housing, that the school building remain, and that the APS maintain a 50-year ground lease on the property. So they went through different design concepts. And one of the requirements that the community wanted was to preserve the school and have a site that fits in with the surrounding, because it's all single family all around it, with the single family around it, and also that the traffic not disrupt the neighborhood. So there were four concept plans, and the preferred alternative is a mixed income rental housing with 30 to 42 units. There will be 15 to 20 units in the existing school, and then smaller multifamily buildings, the missing middle houses, they would have between 60 and 22 units where the parking lot is, and then there will be a surface parking lot to serve the school and the new multifamily. And they want an emphasis of two to three bedroom units, and there will be about 50 off-street parking spaces. So NPU policies is to encourage infill on vacant lots that are compatible with the surrounding areas. And vacant lots should be addressed with priority in terms of development. So the NPUI voted to approve this land use amendment, the CDP amendment, at their August 19 meeting. And our staff recommends the approval of the, the amendment from medium lot single family to the medium density residential development pattern.

Thank you. No members of the public have signed up to speak. Any questions or comments? All right. That is our last item of the evening. Everyone will want to mark their calendars for the November 23rd CDP hearing. Admission is $20, and we are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you.