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Consultants present Highway 92 LCI study, recommend flexible design standards tied to market feasibility
Summary
City staff and consultants presented a draft Livable Centers Initiative study for the Highway 92 corridor, showing multiple redevelopment scenarios, a market "rule of 3" feasibility test, and a likely move toward a flexible planned-unit-development approach rather than a one-size-fits-all zoning standard.
Tracy Albers, community development director for the City of Woodstock, presented the Highway 92 Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study to the mayor and council on April 28, detailing design concepts and market feasibility work funded by a 2023 grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission.
The study team — led by Lord X. Sargent (consultant Bob), KB Advisory Group (Tate, development analyst) and engagement staff including Quinn (Lord X. Sargent project manager) and Renata Madison (Atlanta Regional Commission) — summarized phase-two findings and showed conceptual redevelopment options for three focus sites along Highway 92. The consultants emphasized the scenarios were illustrative: "We're not saying this is what we think should happen. We're just saying this is what could happen," Bob said.
Why it matters: Highway 92 is a large, heterogeneous corridor where one uniform set of design rules would not fit all parcels. The study ties conceptual design to realistic market outcomes so that any regulatory changes are grounded in what developers can finance and operate.
Most important facts: The study tests three representative sites — the roughly 10-acre Woodstock Commons (site of a Goodwill), a smaller two-acre Woodstock Exchange site adjacent to the trail, and a Main Street–adjacent block near Sam's Club — with scenarios ranging from small-scale infill to higher-density mixed-use redevelopment. The team used a financial "rule of 3" (post-development net operating income roughly three times pre-development revenue) as a screening threshold for feasibility based on comparable regional examples.
Key quantitative and design takeaways from the presentation included: - The Woodstock Commons scenarios ranged from minor infill to schemes adding roughly 430 housing units in one mid/high scenario and about 580 units in the highest-intensity scenario; lower-intensity options produced feasibility multiples near 1.12 (not feasible by the team's rule), while some mid/high options exceeded the 3x threshold and were classed as financially plausible. - On the smaller Woodstock Exchange parcel the team found it would likely need retail rents north of about $40 per square foot to be feasible today; the consultants called that "not feasible in today's market" without nearby catalysts. - For the Main Street–adjacent parcels, an assemblage scenario produced feasibility at roughly $27–$30 per square foot, which the team judged within reach in the current market assumptions. - The study identified that the current local residential cap of roughly 12 units per acre would not support many of the feasible redevelopment scenarios; scenarios typically required densities in the 25–40 units-per-acre range for redevelopment to work financially.
The consultants urged the council to avoid a single prescriptive standard for the entire corridor. Tate said the corridor contains "big sites, little sites, medium-sized sites" and therefore recommended a regulatory approach that pairs design principles with a negotiated site-plan process — in staff terms, an approach similar to a planned-unit development (PUD) that sets outcomes and lets project-specific plans demonstrate how they will meet them. Bob called that approach "give[ing] your staff some control and ability to say, we know what we want to do. Show us how you've met those design things." Mayor Michael Caldwell added that he valued the financial analysis: "I love not just the plan but the plan with a financial, feasibility component."
Council members lauded the emphasis on parallel surface streets to create walkable connections off the state arterial and noted the trail-oriented concept as an opportunity even if it may be a later-phase catalyst.
Next steps: The consultants said this presentation closes phase two. They will return with final recommendations and more detailed design standards in the months ahead.
Ending: The study is advisory at this stage; the team asked the council to use the next months to refine standards that can be applied differently at distinct sites rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all rule set.
