On December 4, 2024, the City of Atlanta hosted a meeting at Trinity Presbyterian Church and virtually to view Module II. The Development Standards section covers methods of measurement, parking and loading standards, sign standards, streetscape standards, and more. Caleb Racicot gave a presentation covering high-level changes. The following are some key takeaways from the presentation:
Streetscapes: Keeping requirement to widen streetscapes with redevelopment; creating variable standards that vary by form district and streetscape classification (local, major, etc.); creating uniform standards for key streets(major corridors and historic areas); keeping streetscapes optional in R1-R13 districts
Storefront Streets: Requiring large buildings to provide ground story “retail ready” space in areas where form districts dictate
Blocks and Connectivity: Keeping requirements for new blocks in large developments and connections to adjacent large developments; requiring new streets, whether public or private, to be treated as a public street with streetscapes and proper building orientation
Parking: Updating parking rations, decoupling parking requirements from zoning districts, and keeping parking exception for buildings built before 1965; 4 parking zones (PZ 1-PZ 4), with scaled parking requirements based on existing parking standards and land use character; removing cap of number of bicycle parking spaces required per building
Screening: Creating citywide screening standards for dumpsters, loading docks, mechanical features
Fences and Walls: Standardizing fence height along streets to 42″; changes to materials and height for retaining walls (no more stacked stone and 6′ max in front yards)
Lighting: Creating uniform standards for parking lots and other uses
The city will be hosting a virtual Q&A Session for Module II on January 13th from 6:30-8:30pm, and comments about Modules I and II of the draft are encouraged. The draft ordinance and link to comment can be found here.