Zoning committee hears detailed update on decade‑long zoning rewrite, consultants recommend testing and staff training

Summary

Consultants and city planning staff told the Atlanta Zoning Committee on May 28 that a multi‑year rewrite of the 1982 zoning ordinance has produced modular drafts, extensive public engagement and proposed code changes — including a new "zone string" approach and standardized administrative variations — and that a testing phase will begin this summer.

Consultants and City planning staff briefed the Atlanta City Council Zoning Committee on May 28 on progress toward a full rewrite of the city’s 1982 zoning ordinance, describing a multi‑year public engagement process, proposed structural changes to the code and a planned testing phase before a complete draft is returned for final review.

"We've been hard at work over the past couple of years, rewriting, redrafting and, being responsive to comments from our many stakeholders," Caleb Rosicoke, project manager for the consulting team with TSW, told the committee. Rosicoke said the rewrite process began in February 2016 with a diagnostic, included quick fixes adopted in February 2018, and moved into a full rewrite phase beginning in 2022.

Rosicoke summarized how the rewrite has been staged as modular drafts: use standards, form standards, procedures and development standards. He said the team published roughly 85% drafts of three modules to solicit targeted public feedback and logged engagement through an online review tool (Conveio). "We had nearly 35,000 people review the draft zoning ordinance," Rosicoke said, adding that the team received roughly 780 detailed comments through the platform,…

Zoning committee hears detailed update on decade‑long zoning rewrite, consultants recommend testing and staff training

Summary

Subscribe to keep reading