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Commission weighs Pew land‑use recommendations: zoning changes, permitting reforms and ADUs among options
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a Pew Charitable Trusts brief and discussed a package of land‑use and permitting reforms — from allowing apartments on commercial corridors to pre‑approved plans and digital permitting — and agreed to prioritize items through the new development subcommittee.
Solve presented recommendations from a Pew Charitable Trusts brief at the Jan. 20 meeting, urging the commission to identify which reforms Athens already uses, which are feasible, and which should be priorities. The recommendations included allowing apartments by right on commercially zoned land, easing parking mandates, permitting accessory dwelling units, clarifying rules for modular and off‑site construction, and reforms to make permitting faster and more predictable (digital permitting, pre‑approved plans, third‑party inspections, phased approvals and pre‑submission meetings).
Megan, who described current city practices, said Athens already permits certain residential uses in commercial zones (B1 allows ground‑floor residential, B2 and up generally allow residential only on upper floors). She noted the city has online permit applications but lacks a full local building department, which can limit capacity for some reforms such as third‑party inspections or phased approvals. Megan also said several of the Pew suggestions are vague and would require clearer definitions and local tailoring before adoption.
Members recommended a practical next step: each commissioner should rank the list of suggested reforms and send their top priorities to the chair. The new development subcommittee will match priority items to existing code and develop a worksheet for recommendations the commission could give to City Council or the code office. One member volunteered to build a ranking tool to aggregate members’ inputs for the chair.
Commissioners emphasized balancing ambition with capacity: some reforms could be quick wins (website changes, pre‑approved plan libraries) while others would require coordination, staffing or council action. The discussion positioned the commission to move from reviewing national best practices to producing targeted local recommendations during the comprehensive‑plan process.
