21-O-0456 / Z-21-74 (Atlanta City Design Housing Text Amendment)

UPDATE: The Department of City Planning has issued AMENDED versions of this proposed ACD Housing Text Amendment. Please see AMENDED 9/3/21 version and AMENDED 10/1/21 version here for additional information.

For Review & Comment: 

  • Amendments to the text of the Zoning Ordinance proposed in conjunction with 21-O-0454 in an effort to remove regulatory barriers that suppress the market’s ability to provide affordable housing options at a small neighborhood scale.

  • The proposed amendments address 3 specific areas:

    • Promote affordable housing near transit by amending the MR-MU zoning category in the following ways: allow by-right a unit allowance of 1-4 units per property (was previously 4-12 units); allow for multiple structures on the property to increase flexibility of unit configuration; and allow a tiered density bonus to allow for 5-12 units when affordable units are provided (1-2 units at 60% AMI for rental units or 1-2 units at 80% AMI for-sale units).

    • Remove residential parking minimums in all residential zoning districts except R1-R-3 districts. Current residential parking minimums add significant cost to new housing development in Atlanta. By eliminating residential parking minimums, the cost to produce housing can be lowered, which in turn can allow for more affordable rents and housing purchase prices. This does not mean that off-street parking is not allowed. It just means that the market, rather than government regulation, would determine the amount of parking spaces that are needed.

    • Create more flexible options for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in the following ways: allow ADUs to be attached to the main dwelling such as a basement apartment or garage conversion; allow increased heights from 20 ft to 24 ft for detached ADUs; expand ADU allowance to the R4B district; make ADU rear & side setbacks 4ft in R4, R4A, & R4B; only count conditioned space towards ADU square footage to allow for more unit-over-garage style ADUs; cap the size of detached ADUs at 750 sf or 30% of the main dwelling, whichever is greater; allow for the sale of ADUs through detached zero-lot-line/fee simple configuration currently used for duplexes in R5 allowing for separate ownership of the units while maintaining the existing development controls on the whole lot; and expand total unit allowance in R5 from 2 to 3 to allow for a Duplex + ADU configuration.

  • The proposed text amendments would not directly impact Poncey-Highland as the Poncey-Highland Historic District removed our previous underlying zoning categories. Although we are not directly impacted by these proposed changes, we are indirectly impacted by policies related to density, affordability, and growth in Atlanta. As a result, Poncey-Highland will have the ability to provide comment and eventually vote on these measures at upcoming NPU-N meetings. However, it is worthwhile to note that the Poncey-Highland Historic District already removed all parking minimums for both residential and nonresidential uses, and we already allow for both attached & detached ADUs for single-family dwellings in Subareas 1, 2 & 6. Some of our ADU regulations are less stringent than those changes being proposed, while others are more stringent. To learn more about the Poncey-Highland Historic District’s ADU requirements, please click here.

PHNA