Atlanta leaders gathered in the atrium of City Hall on August 13 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an integral part of the community: The Neighborhood Planning Unit Project.
The advisory committees spread across the city have long been essential tools for civic engagement and an easy way for the Atlanta government to gain local input. On August 13, City Council members and planning department representatives celebrated the people who make it happen with a luncheon.
On August 13, 1974, then-Mayor Maynard Jackson officially started Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit project. It was first presented by City Council member John Calhoun, who also introduced the idea to the Atlanta Charter Commission and the Atlanta Regional Commission.
The 25 all-volunteer advisory committees spread across the city were originally created to provide input on the Comprehensive Development Plan. The plan establishes a citywide vision for the future, with updates every five years.
From there, the planning units named after the alphabet have grown to comment on almost every issue impacting their respective regions. With open membership for residents, the units provide recommendations on everything from zoning to festivals and liquor licenses.
“You are the heartbeat of our city, from keeping our cities and streets safe to making sure the voices are heard, the NPU makes real change,” Councilmember Byron Amos said.
Leah LaRue, assistant director of the Neighborhood Planning Units said there is a lot of work ahead to “increase the impact and value” NPUs have in Atlanta. She calls it a reimagination of the entire system.
This year, the planning department opted to focus on community engagement through year-long events like the “Love Thy Neighbor” block party or city-planning bike rides with the Atlanta Department of Transportation.
LaRue also pointed to the ongoing “NPU University” started in 2019, a series of educational civic engagement courses to ensure residents on the south side and the west side had access to the same resources as residents on the north side and the east side. In the coming year, LaRue said the planning department will prioritize the area south of I-20.
It’s an ongoing effort to improve the system, which has seen its share of issues. NPU-R in Southwest Atlanta has long been the site of a power struggle based on contested elections, members blocked from public meetings and tense relationships.
Other meetings like the NPU-A August 6 meeting see tension due to controversial topics. At the gathering, residents from the Chastain Park area grilled representatives from the Galloway School on the planned demolition of its historic Gresham building. Past meetings have devolved into shouting, and the most recent discussion was no different.
At one point, a resident stood and began to air her grievances with the project. Chairperson W. Brinkley Dickerson, Jr. quickly shut her down and said it was a “bitching question.” He later explained the question was not directly on topic with zoning, and he was trying to prevent disarray in the discussion.
By the end of the meeting, the NPU voted against Galloway School’s request for a Special Public Interest District rezoning – its second time voting against the school. As the neighborhood left the meeting, though, one declared: “It’s not like they’re going to listen to us.”
The Gresham Building was destroyed two days later. It’s the reality of an advisory board that nobody has to listen to the local volunteers. But their civic participation is encouraged by city leaders just the same.
“Guys, we are building consensus because what we know for sure is that we don’t agree on everything, right, and Atlanta is built so many different, diverse, different in every way, neighborhoods,” Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet said. “It is up to us to continue this charge, and I want to make sure that we are doing our very best in making sure the NPUs are actualized in a way that has never been done before.”
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