Zoning committee approves several rezonings, hears BeltLine representative on mixed-use proposal and refers multiple items to ZRB

The Atlanta Zoning Committee approved a series of rezonings and special-use permits, took one item up for separate discussion with BeltLine representation, and referred a block of items to the Zoning Review Board (ZRB).

Director Hietta Holmes presented Items 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and a larger block of items later in the agenda. The committee adopted ZRB-suggested amendments to the block (text alignments and added conditions/site plans) and approved Items 8, 10 and 11 as amended on a 6'to'00 vote. Item 9 (a special use permit for an outdoor sales area at 1611 Abernathy Blvd SW) was approved 6'to'00.

Item 12, a request to change zoning from light industrial (conditional) to industrial mixed use (IMIX) for properties including parcels on Milton Avenue (tied to a planned master plan for Murphy's Crossing and the former State Farmers Market site), prompted questions from Council Member Kelsey Bond about whether the BeltLine overlay would prevent certain industrial uses. Bryson Levisay, identified in the meeting as a member of the government affairs team for ABI and joined by an affordable-housing project manager for the site, said the team had undertaken substantial community engagement and described the site as the old State Farmers Market. He told the committee IMIX would allow housing and mixed uses and that direct trail access is a significant community benefit: "This is the old state farmer's market site... affordable housing with direct trail access is gonna be a huge benefit." Holmes and Levisay clarified that, under the current BeltLine overlay district regulations cited in the meeting, certain large industrial uses such as data centers are prohibited in that overlay; committee members also noted existing, preexisting data centers in the area that are grandfathered.

After discussion and the ZRB-aligned amendments, the committee approved Item 12 as a separate motion and returned a favorable vote. Later in the meeting, Items 13 through 20 (a mix of single- and multi-family rezonings, special permits, and an ordinance to prohibit warehouses and self-storage facilities within the BeltLine overlay) were taken as a block and referred to the Zoning Review Board; the committee vote to refer was recorded 6'to'00.

The meeting record shows no signed public commenters and concludes with the committee adjourning.