ATLANTA, GA — The City of Atlanta is revising its zoning code to enhance transportation, parking, housing, and districts in the city.
According to the city’s ‘ATL Zoning 2.0’ website, the current zoning ordinance is 40 years old and is no longer up to date. It has numerous out-of-date standards that do not represent the city policies or best practices, and its overall presentation is complex and unintuitive.
Therefore, revision is needed as it provides an opportunity to address these concerns fully and build a new set of legislation that is more suited to Atlanta. The government welcomes everyone to be a part of this revision.
Changes to standards in the zoning ordinance will be guided by the following:
- The public engagement process;
- The recommendations of the Zoning Ordinance Diagnostic;
- The Atlanta City Design and its supplementary zoning memo;
- The Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP); and
- Other City policies and plans.
The city stated that the new standards would be tailored to Atlanta’s specific requirements. One of the main difficulties now is that many zoning districts are obsolete and inconsistent with the existing development patterns in Atlanta’s older urban areas. Developing suitable buildings in these communities is challenging because the variance process takes a long time and is costly.
The rewriting process involves a thorough evaluation of existing development patterns in 24 Atlanta areas to aid in decisions on zoning ordinances.
Planners, architects, landscape architects, attorneys, and historic preservationists who comprehend the gap between current zoning codes, development patterns, community rules will be included in the consulting team.
The city aims to have a new zoning ordinance adopted by the summer of 2024.
To discover answers to a growing list of commonly asked questions, as well as related supporting resources and background information, please visit https://atlzoning.com/explore-and-learn/.