Yes, You Can Build Your Way to Affordable Housing (Atlanta: for sale, rental market)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

I don't have a real problem with ADUs in most areas. I think very, very, very few people will build them, and it won't do anything to help the "crisis", but why not? Of course, there should be some rules surrounding them regarding parking, etc.

Agreed.

[jsvh]

Can't risk not subsidizing car dependency! You want to build some new housing, OK, maybe. But we are going to require you to add costs to pay for additional parking on top of that. Don't have enough land for the additional required parking? Sorry, not allowed to build any new housing stock to take pressure off the housing shortage. Supporting car dependency is a much higher priority than affordable housing! (end sarcasm)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

I don't have a real problem with ADUs in most areas. I think very, very, very few people will build them, and it won't do anything to help the "crisis", but why not? Of course, there should be some rules surrounding them regarding parking, etc.

When we talk about ADU's, do we mean nice garage apartments or cottages for one or possibly two residents?

Or do we intend to authorize the ability to randomly build any sort of living structure of any type (duplex, triplex, apartments), with no setback requirements, no off street parking and no other rules?

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Can't risk not subsidizing car dependency! You want to build some new housing, OK, maybe. But we are going to require you to add costs to pay for additional parking on top of that. Don't have enough land for the additional required parking? Sorry, not allowed to build any new housing stock to take pressure off the housing shortage. Supporting car dependency is a much higher priority than affordable housing! (end sarcasm)

Dude. What?? Take your meds.

What I was actually referring to is to maybe allow only one car per dwelling unit so as not to add cars to street parking. Mostly because I hate street parking.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Dude. What?? Take your meds.

What I was actually referring to is to maybe allow only one car per dwelling unit so as not to add cars to street parking. Mostly because I hate street parking.

And that one parking space you want to require takes up as much land as a studio apartment. For many sites you will not have enough land and / or money for both.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Well, I've said before that I'd be glad to turn our garage back into an apartment. I'd love to have a grad student live there and would make them one heck of a deal if they'd look after the place when we travel and assist me with some light duties.

However, what I've been reading here goes WAY beyond that. Folks have been advocating doing away with zoning laws and allowing full-on duplexes and triplexes and inexpensive apartment buildings to be built literally anywhere, with no setbacks, no parking requirements and no other limitations whatsoever. I can't go for that.

Having attended public input meetings on the zoning rewrite, that is 100% false. Atlanta wants to move away from Euclidean zoning to a Form based zoning.
https://www.planning.org/events/activity/4142883/

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Dude. What?? Take your meds.

What I was actually referring to is to maybe allow only one car per dwelling unit so as not to add cars to street parking. Mostly because I hate street parking.

Street parking slows down vehicle traffic on residential streets and provides a barrier between moving traffic and pedestrians on the sidewalk. On street parking works better than speed humps.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Street parking slows down vehicle traffic on residential streets and provides a barrier between moving traffic and pedestrians on the sidewalk. On street parking works better than speed humps.

Only if the street is wide enough to still have two traffic lanes moving. Otherwise, it can be dangerous. There is also the problem of pedestrians not being able to see oncoming traffic because their line of sight is blocked by a Ford Expedition. Than can be very dangerous. And, its unattractive to boot.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Having attended public input meetings on the zoning rewrite, that is 100% false. Atlanta wants to move away from Euclidean zoning to a Form based zoning.
https://www.planning.org/events/activity/4142883/

I've been involved with the city's ADU legislation as well and I have supported it.

However, that's not what has been advocated here on this board. Instead, people have argued that we should dispense with zoning laws and allow development anywhere in the city limits, with zero lot lines and no setbacks, no parking requirements, mixed uses, no minimum square footage, and including duplexes, triplexes and multi-unit apartments. That''s a far cry from what the city has proposed regarding ADU's.

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Street parking slows down vehicle traffic on residential streets and provides a barrier between moving traffic and pedestrians on the sidewalk. On street parking works better than speed humps.

Sidewalks? You realize there are huge quadrants of the city with no sidewalks, where the roads are curvy and terrain is wooded and hilly, right?