| Title | Example | More Information | Tools |
| Affordable Housing on Decatur's South Side | The Housing Authority of the City of Decatur, in conjunction with a related non-profit and a private developer, worked to develop 20 new townhouses in Decatur’s South Side. The development is not only contributing to the revitalization of Decatur’s South Side, but provides affordable housing to employees of the City of Decatur. Five units were discounted for city workers, giving them the opportunity to purchase a home in the city they serve. | Decatur Housing Authority 404-377-0425 |
Infill Development Program |
| Chamblee Livable Center Initiative | Through Livable Center Initiatives (LCI), the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) will invest $5 million over the next four years to fund "smart growth" studies around Atlanta. Beginning in 2003, ARC will contribute $350 million to help implement the various study projects. The City of Chamblee is the location of a MARTA rail station, although many uses near the station are not associated with transit. The LCI study will consider the opportunities for transit oriented development (TOD) and other LCI goals in the study area. | Kathy Brannon Chamblee CEO Office 770-986-5010 |
Design Charrette TOD Small Area Plans Transportation Enhancement Program |
| Columbia Citihomes | Columbia Citihomes is an apartment complex in Atlanta's Edgewood neighborhood, on the former site of a run-down housing project. It is next to the new Edgewood Retail District. (This is in the part of Atlanta in DeKalb County). Several local and state agencies partnered with Columbia to create financing for the development, making it possible for some of the units to be rented at highly discounted rates to those who qualify. Organized Neighbors of Edgewood, the neighborhood association, worked with Columbia to ensure that the project would meet their concerns. The apartment buildings resemble large homes, and fit well into the neighborhood. Unfortunately the complex is fenced and gated--a major drawback not in keeping with quality growth principles--but its buildings do face the street. The drive entering the complex is similar in appearance to a typical residential street. There are 84 two-bedroom apartments, and amenities such as a picnic area, fitness center, and laundry room. | Creative Design for Higher Density Mixed-Income Housing | |
| Decatur Roundtables | The Round Tables Project in Decatur has brought together 450 area residents representing a broad cross-section of the community. Beyond providing a forum for these residents to air their concerns, Decatur has involved them in implementing those ideas. Action teams of citizens are working together to strengthen the schools, bring neighborhood associations together, encourage smart growth, preserve green space, and find common ground on tax and service issues. The city's courage to welcome feedback is leading to a more informed public and an involved community with a shared set of goals. | Peggy Merris City Manager City of Decatur 404-370-4100 |
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| Dekalb County -- Peavine Watershed Alliance | The Peavine Watershed Alliance (PWA), a grassroots community-based organization dedicated to restoring and preserving an ecological balance in the Peavine Creek watershed, includes four Atlanta neighborhoods within the six-mile square watershed of Peavine Creek and its three tributaries: Decatur Fork, Fernbank Creek, and Lullwater Creek. PWA and its partners promote a combination of watershed protection tools, and have initiated a greenway project. PWA helps identify ecologically significant parcels, conducts initial investigations, and screens potential acquisitions. It encourages landowners to give conservation easements and donations but does not have the ability to preserve or maintain greenspaces and buffers. Therefore, a corresponding organization, the Trust for Aquatic Greenways was established in 1998. The Trust for Aquatic Greenways partners with the Chattowah Open Land Trust to acquire, maintain, and hold aquatic greenways in stewardship. | Patricia White Executive Director Peavine Watershed Alliance 404/508-7603 peavine@emory.edu [more information] |
Conservation Easements Land Trust Purchase of Development Rights Riparian Buffers |
| Dekalb County Consistency Code | Sec. 27-41. Relationship to comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is hereby established as the official policy of the county concerning designated land uses, under which the unincorporated areas of the county are divided into the following land use categories: (a) Low density residential. (b) Low-medium density residential. (c) Medium density residential. (d) Medium-high density residential. (e) High density residential. (f) Very high density residential. (g) Low intensity commercial. (h) High intensity commercial. (i) Office/professional. (j) Office/mixed-use. (k) Industrial. (l) Transportation/communications/utilities. (m) Institutional. (n) Public and private parks and open space. (o) Agriculture. (p) Vacant and undeveloped. (Ord. No. 99-11, Pt. 1, 4-13-99) Sec. 27-42. Comprehensive plan distinguished from zoning. The comprehensive plan does not alter or affect the existing zoning districts in the county, does not effectuate an amendment to the official zoning maps, and does not itself permit or prohibit any existing land uses. (Ord. No. 99-11, Pt. 1, 4-13-99) | ||
| DeKalb Greenways Trail | DeKalb County commissioners approved funding transfers to help pay for a 124-mile greenway trail master plan created by the PATH foundation, a private trail group that has facilitated such projects in many parts of the state. Five trails are planned, in all. The trails ban motorized vehicles except for motorized wheelchairs, and encourage walking, jogging, biking, baby-strolling and skating. | Ray White 404-371-2159 |
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| East Lake Commons | East Lake Commons is a cohousing community developed on 20 acres of infill land near downtown Atlanta. The high-density, pedestrian-oriented development includes 67 market-rate townhomes, a community building, and a four-acre community farm. Fully one-half of the site is preserved as garden and open space. Parking areas are located along the perimeter of the site to keep automobiles outside the village cluster, but close enough that the distance from the parking area to the farthest home is less than the average length of a supermarket parking lot. The project has won several awards, and was also chosen by the Sierra Club as an example of smart growth in its 50-state survey, "Smart Choices or Sprawling Growth." | Clayton Preston Village Habitat Design 404-525-4828 [more information] |
Cluster Development Flexible Subdivision Regulations Housing for the Elderly |
| Emtech Bio | Emtech Biotechnology Development, Inc. ("Emtech Bio") was started in 2000 as a joint project of Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Located at Emory's Briarcliff Campus in Atlanta, Emtech Bio provides laboratory space and scientific equipment to start-up bioscience companies. It also allows such companies to benefit from access to the knowledge and resources of Emory and Georgia Tech, and the two universities in turn can be better connected and involved with the applications of cutting-edge research. | [more information] |
Business Incubator |
| Historic Scottish Rite & Independent Communities | This project consists of the rehabilitation of the historic Scottish Rite Hospital, new housing for spinal injured independent living and new single family homes. This project has also rejuvenated a once desolate corner of a community in Decatur which is now thriving, Oakhurst. The historic site consists of 5.1 acres and contains several existing buildings: the main hospital building and two wings, a 1950’s vintage two-story “Health Center” building, and the Elizabeth Wilson Building (a small one-story renovated 1948 laundry facility). This property has undergone a significant transformation and the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of the historic Scottish Rite and its two wings lies at the heart of this transformation. Designed by the noted Atlanta architect Neel Reid and built in 1919, this “Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children” was the first such facility built in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The main hospital building and the “West Wing” have been reconfigured as office space, while the East Wing will be the Community Center of South Decatur. Independent Communities consists of 14 units build for people who have suffered a spinal cord or traumatic brain injury. The Shepherd Center of Atlanta was awarded a HUD 811 grant to fund the construction costs of these units. Each unit has been designed with the help of patients from Shepherd Center to be fully accessible to the handicapped, and is designed in the Craftsman Bungalow style to reflect the overall design of the houses in this historic neighborhood. | Tom Dalia Architect Smith Dalia Architects, LLC 404-892-2443 |
Creative Design for Higher Density |
| Magnolia Circle Apartments | Magnolia Circle Apartments is an affordable housing option for DeKalb County seniors 62 and older. The $7.9 million development consists of 84 one-bedroom and two-bedroom ground-level apartments, with 80% leased as affordable units and 20% leased at market rate. Residents have access to a community building with a fitness center and activity room, community garden, and Georgia's first multifamily property Wildlife Preserve-Bird Sanctuary. It is also the first EarthCraft certified multifamily property in the country, in recognition of its environmentally-friendly design and construction. | Jane Massey Community Initiatives Coordinator-Housing Finance Division 770-631-9292 jmassey@dca.state.ga.us [more information] |
Green Buildings Housing for the Elderly Mixed-Income Housing |
| Walkable Emory Park in DeKalb County | Emory Parc is a traditional neighborhood development born from the redevelopment of an existing 32-home subdivision into 63 townhouses and 81 single-family detached homes. Located off Clairmont Road in DeKalb County, Emory Parc sets a new standard for enhancement of the pedestrian environment. Thoughtful attention was given to create a development that has raised sidewalk crossings, intentionally narrow streets and planting strips for traffic calming. In addition to sidewalks, the development includes pedestrian trails and connections that link within as well as to all of the adjoining amenities. The homes sit close to the street, and many utilize rear alleys for car access, which further enhances the pedestrian feel of the community. The surrounding uses also promote a pedestrian environment with a library, senior center, tennis courts and a trail system located within easy walking distance. | Cluster Development Creative Design for Higher Density Land Assembly for Redevelopment Traditional Neighborhood Development - Site Specific Requirements Traffic Calming | |
| Wesley Chapel Redevelopment | A project is underway to redevelop an area along Wesley Chapel Road near I-20. They are building a bridge over the interstate, adding lanes, landscaping the median, building bike lanes and sidewalks, and putting in street lights in the area. They are also looking to redevelop the Wesley Chapel business district from a rundown area littered with vacant big-box stores, motels, and fast food restaurants into a new mixed-use development in an attempt to attract jobs to the area. An overlay district may be created in order to make it faster and easier for businesses to open. | [more information] |
Overlay Districts Targeted Corridor Redevelopment |