Zoning committee approves rezoning at 1280 Chattahoochee Ave after striking affordability condition

The Atlanta Zoning Committee voted to approve an ordinance to rezone 1280 Chattahoochee Avenue NW from heavy industrial Upper West Side overlay to multifamily residential Upper West Side overlay after removing a condition that would have imposed BeltLine inclusionary housing requirements on the property.

Director Holmes told the committee the MPU (Metropolitan Planning Unit) had recommended two conditions: no curb cuts on Chattahoochee Avenue NW and a requirement that the property meet half of the BeltLine inclusionary zoning requirements. "The conditions are related to having no curb cuts on Chattahoochee Avenue Northwest, and the second condition is related to affordable housing and requiring half of the belt line inclusionary zoning requirements on this property," Director Holmes said.

Amber A. Robinson of the City of Atlanta Department of Law advised the committee that keeping the affordability condition posed legal problems. "If that condition were to remain, I think initially, there would be a notice issue because that is not being that not being regulation in that area," Robinson said, adding she could not say definitively whether it was an enforceable zoning regulation and would defer to the office of zoning. Director Holmes later said the city had been advised not to add conditions that are not applicable to certain properties and that BeltLine inclusionary zoning applies only to properties within the BeltLine overlay.

On that basis Council member Dustin Hillis moved to amend the item to strike the affordability condition; Shook seconded the motion. The committee voted 7 yays, 0 nays to adopt the amendment. Chair Matt Westmore then moved to approve the ordinance as amended; the committee voted 7 yeas, 0 nays. The committee retained the condition prohibiting curb cuts on Chattahoochee Avenue NW.

Committee members discussed access briefly; Director Holmes said the site could be accessed from an adjacent street and that the plan showed access off the corner at a traffic light. The transcript does not record additional enforcement language or a follow-up timeline for implementation.