Fuqua gets Leggett & Platt Beltline Site (Atlanta, Reynolds: zoning, restaurants)

[jero23]

Originally Posted by AtlantaIsHot

I didn't mean that literally. I meant it is far from the city core. Retail in what way? Strip centers? That's suburban and doesn't belong anywhere near the core. Memorial Drive needs to improve. Ponce is still filled with strip centers and parking lots in a lot of places at this point. I would have rather seen Glenwood Park built instead of Veranda Point or the horrid suburban McGill Park. That's all I really meant.

There are regulations currently available to require such design, the SPI (special public interest), quality of life (MR, MRC), and landmark district regulations would make it possible. However, none of the neighborhoods surrounding these two sites have organized in a fashion to push this. It seems like many in these areas are concerned about aesthetics and tenant choices of these proposed retail developments versus the overall design. This is a common problem across the entire metropolitan area...

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

But the real question is (or should be), who has the lion's share of input into this rewrite: the developers or the NPUs?

You really have to bring all the major stakeholders to the table for a successful zoning code update. That includes the property owners, the NPU's, city planning staff, GDOT, Georgia Power, MARTA, etc.

Good examples of this are the SPI's, which rewrote the code for specific areas of the city. (SPI-1 for downtown, SPI-16 for Midtown, SPI-9 for the Buckhead village, SPI-12 for the Lenox corridor, SPI-15 for Lindbergh, and so forth).

Even then there are many obstacles to negotiate, in that you can't easily rezone properties in ways which impair private property rights. It gets even more complicated when you take into account the myriad prior rezonings, variances, nonconforming uses, covenants, private agreements and other tweaks that have been taken place over the years.

So the rewrite will be a challenging task. I have copies of some of the prior zoning codes and they all started out as skinny little volumes. Now they number in the hundreds of pages, plus the many, many addenda mentioned above.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by jero23

Actually, it's not toothless at all. The 800 Glenwood project displays why having a problem with the particular retailer choice (Wal-Mart vs. Kroger) isn't the point of the majority of the opposition to the development. Even if the Beltline regulations were a type of zoning district similar to landmark district zoning it would still be challenged by someone with long money like Fuqua. There has be just a much desire on the developers part to want to adhere to something as much as it is with the intent of the zoning and development regulations.

Retailer choice is irrelevant. The problem with 800 Glenwood is the layout. It goes against what the Beltline is trying to create. Everyone knows the design and layout of this development violates loads of Beltline Regulations, but it was approved anyway. Therefore, the Beltline guidelines aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

[AcidSnake]

Originally Posted by JPD

Retailer choice is irrelevant. The problem with 800 Glenwood is the layout. It goes against what the Beltline is trying to create. Everyone knows the design and layout of this development violates loads of Beltline Regulations, but it was approved anyway. Therefore, the Beltline guidelines aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

This.

[JoeTarheel]

The Reynoldstown Civic Improvement League's board sent a strongly-worded letter to all prospective developers prior to Fuqua being chosen for the project, spelling out what they expect. Leggett And Platt - full coverage from Curbed Atlanta

"As with most intown neighborhoods, we've conducted numerous meetings to envision and plan for this eventual growth period and have ratified numbers of master plans. A common theme, from all the way back to 1999, is that they all emphasized people places, not car places, where all modes of transportation are seriously considered in design. This underlying idea of a healthy, efficient, mobile, inclusive urban form is paramount — we are fixated upon it."

Hopefully this will make a difference.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by JPD

Retailer choice is irrelevant. The problem with 800 Glenwood is the layout. It goes against what the Beltline is trying to create. Everyone knows the design and layout of this development violates loads of Beltline Regulations, but it was approved anyway. Therefore, the Beltline guidelines aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

You're right. There's not much else to say if the city will not stand behind the plan, it doesn't matter what is written in it. 800 Glenwood should NEVER have gotten approval as it is designed.

[AcidSnake]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

You're right. There's not much else to say if the city will not stand behind the plan, it doesn't matter what is written in it. 800 Glenwood should NEVER have gotten approval as it is designed.

This as well. Which sums up the whole main issue with Fuqua and the Atlanta beltline.

I don't get why some folks are seemingly blurring the lines on this issue.

It's too common on City-data. And it's very disheartening.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by JPD

Retailer choice is irrelevant. The problem with 800 Glenwood is the layout. It goes against what the Beltline is trying to create. Everyone knows the design and layout of this development violates loads of Beltline Regulations, but it was approved anyway. Therefore, the Beltline guidelines aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

What do honestly think the city can do when it loses a lawsuit?

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by jero23

What do honestly think the city can do when it loses a lawsuit?

Fuqua got SAP approval for 800 Glenwood BEFORE there was ever a threat of a lawsuit. After the neighborhood protested, then the city retro-actively changed the zoning but by then Fuqua had every legal right to proceed with the development. At that point I almost don't blame him. The issue is that the development should never have gotten approval given its conflict with the Beltline overlay district plan.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

Fuqua got SAP approval for 800 Glenwood BEFORE there was ever a threat of a lawsuit. After the neighborhood protested, then the city retro-actively changed the zoning but by then Fuqua had every legal right to proceed with the development. At that point I almost don't blame him. The issue is that the development should never have gotten approval given its conflict with the Beltline overlay district plan.

Natalyn and our at-large councilmembers already know what Reynoldstown wants for the Leggett & Platt site.

At this point I'm going to wait for Fuqua's proposal to the neighborhood, before wasting my energy on further speculation. He's told us we'll like what we'll see... so we'll see.