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GPA Announces New Executive Director:
We are pleased to welcome GPA’s first-ever executive director, Jessica Gibson. Jessica earned a Bachelors of Science in International Affairs from Georgia Tech with certificates in Land Development and Asian Affairs. She worked for several years in the office of former Senator Sam Nunn, where she was responsible for organizing Georgia’s Model United Nations Conference, along with other administrative duties.
At GPA Jessica will help us with:
- organizing our conferences and other events
- implementing the AICP certification maintenance program
- planning officials development
- membership development, including events in various districts
- other administrative help
Jessica will be working approximately half-time over the next year; you will meet her at April’s spring conference in Decatur; in the meantime you can reach her at her GPA email address - executive.director@georgiaplanning.org.
Welcome Jessica!
Mixed Use Developments Creating Fundamental Change in Metro Atlanta
By Dan Reuter, AICP
Prior to 1880, most people walked to work in American cities. The last streetcar ran in the City of Atlanta in 1948. In the year 1950, the city had 331,000 residents and the metro area had 997,666. By the year 1955, automobile sales in the U.S. approached 7.2 million and the great suburban expansion of the U.S. had begun.
The American automobile played a critical role in the creation of the land use patterns we now experience on a daily basis. Suburban expansion in metro Atlanta and the dominance of cars as the preferred mode of transportation occurred for many reasons. Zoning was a tool that allowed or forced separation of jobs and neighborhoods to occur.
The historic downtown commercial districts and neighborhoods of the City of Atlanta, Decatur, Marietta and numerous other cities in the Atlanta region survived but did not prosper much during the suburban expansion of the past 50 years. However, during the past decade, many indicators of urban and mixed-use resurgence have emerged.
In 1988, the City of Smyrna embarked on it’s rebirth as a mixed-use town center, which ultimately was recognized by the Urban Land Institute’s Award of Excellence in 1997 as a functional and successful revitalization project. During the late 1990s, most planners made the trek to Northside Drive in Atlanta to see Post Riverside, a mixed-use apartment, office and retail development. While other good examples of mixed-use development existed in the region, Post Riverside was one of the first new private developments to have the traits of a "walkable" traditional neighborhood.
Since those early experiences at the dawn of the "smart growth" movement, the State of Georgia and metro Atlanta have seen much progress towards more mixed-use development and greater incentives to develop urban communities. During the past decade since the Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, the city has experienced a resurgence of development including Atlantic Station, new condo towers, revitalization of many disinvested neighborhoods, redevelopment of public housing sites, new parks, the Beltline and even a good chance for a new streetcar line on Peachtree Street.
Many new residential projects with mixed uses and traditional neighborhood design (TND) have been constructed, such as Vickery in Forsyth County, Glenwood Park in Atlanta and Serenbe in the City of Chattahoochee Hill. Many of these new developments are in suburban counties.
Finally, many cities in metro Atlanta have thriving mixed-use and residential development underway. The cities of Decatur, Suwanee and Woodstock are only a few of the cities in metro Atlanta that have adopted codes to permit well designed mixed-use developments. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) has been built adjacent to the Lindbergh or Ashby MARTA stations.
The era of single-use development and primarily automobile-oriented development is coming to an end. Demand for mixed-use developments is increasing. Given a choice many citizens and families would choose a walkable neighborhood with some services, restaurants or parks close by. Well-designed communities also can promote physical activity and better health, as well as providing a safer alternative to wide streets and fast moving cars.
There are many things driving the demand for more livable developments, including traffic congestion; costs of long commutes; families seeking a higher quality of life; the excitement of living in an area with many options for eating or entertainment within a short walk or drive; retired citizens and families in the suburbs who may want to stay in their community but need smaller homes and walkable locations.
Single-use commercial or suburban residential zoning districts are a remnant of a period of time that is passing in America. Planners and elected officials should better understand and embrace good community design that values pedestrians, safe areas for children to play or retirees to walk and bicyclists rather than moving cars quickly through communities.
Many planners and citizens may believe that car-free travel isn’t an option for Georgia. They are wrong.
The change is underway.
PLANNER’S TOOLBOX –
ARC’s Greyfield Redevelopment Toolkit
Executive Summary (pdf) & Tool (pdf)
The goal of the Community Choices Toolkit is to educate local officials about the choices available to them to create and sustain quality communities. The diverse set of concepts included in the toolkit take into account and complements the priorities of the unique and individual communities that are part of the Atlanta region.
ULI’s Higher Density Development: Myth and Fact
Higher Density Development: Myth and Fact (pdf)
This is the sixth in a series of publications designed to dispel myths and offer good examples on issues related to growth and land use. It addresses common myths surrounding density. This publication is also available in packets of 10 for $19.95 from the bookstore.
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Near the South Carolina border and the Tugaloo River, the City of Toccoa has moved forward with a downtown renaissance highlighted by the removal of concrete canopies that covered a two-block pedestrian alley and restoring the roadway and sidewalks. Tourism has grown around Toccoa in part with the introduction of a new museum and history center at the city’s historic downtown train depot, and through interest in the City’s history as a military training ground made famous in the story Band of Brothers. The City is working closely with the GMRDC Historic Preservation staff to insure the newly established historic district is re-created in compliance with Federal and State standards, and to date several buildings have received newly restored facades and adaptive re-use. New projects on tap include a new civic center and a housing revitalization effort aimed at two older urban neighborhoods adjacent to downtown. 
Closer to Atlanta and the start of the Appalachian Mountains, the City of Dawsonville is also planning to expand and renovate its urban core. Recently the City moved into the former Thunder Road Museum building just outside of downtown, renovating significant portions of the structure to serve as a new City Hall. Now Dawsonville is partnering with a private business in the redevelopment of the remaining site to produce an urban-scale mix of uses including offices and townhomes, as well as reopening the Thunder Road Museum. In addition, the City is developing Historic District Design Guidelines to assist with redevelopment within the downtown historic district and a Downtown Revitalization Study that looks at connecting the historic downtown with the new City Hall redevelopment area. By coordinating streetscapes, infill development, new connecting roads and smaller block sizes, the hope is for this effort to create a larger, more vibrant and cohesive central business district.