While cities such as East Point and College Park are encouraged about future development projects, the mayors say it’s essential to create housing for people of different income levels. And a 55-acre mixed-use project on Sylvan Road in East Point could include a balance of housing options.
During a panel discussion at the State of the Aerotropolis event last Friday, Shannon James, president and CEO of Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, asked about the need for economic inclusion in housing.
College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom said her city, as well as East Point, Hapeville and Clayton County, must think collectively and intentionally about affordable housing.
Clayton County, the south Fulton cities and the Atlanta Regional Commission received $64.9 million in federal funds for a project that will connect the Beltline to their communities and a new Flint River Trail Network.
“You see what the Beltline has done for the city of Atlanta and how it has really galvanized redevelopment in areas that people weren’t thinking of in the past,” Motley Broom said. “The challenge [of housing] then becomes the equitable part… How do we show that we are good stewards of this money? How do we show that we are thinking in the best interests of the entire community?”
East Point Mayor Deana Holiday Ingraham said officials have to “demand” that developers build mixed-income housing and ensure that longtime residents with limited means don’t get pushed out.
The Sylvan Road project will set the tone for the future, she said.
A 55-acre property at 3107 Sylvan Road in East Point, near Hapeville and College Park, is set to become an office, residential, shopping and entertainment project.
The property was sold to Quark Properties in July for $13 million, according to Fulton County property records.
Just before Thanksgiving, East Point announced that McDonald Development Company, which is leading the project, will include community input in planning the vision for the development.
Ingraham said South Fulton should have incentives for projects that bring residential living for moderate, middle and high income levels.
Cities “have to get out of this mindset of extremes” in allowing developers to build 10 percent of housing for people of lower income levels and 90 percent for higher income levels, the mayor said.
“There’s a balance between making money and greed,” Ingraham said. “And we can’t allow greed to take over this process so that people who have been in these communities for decades get involuntarily displaced and pushed out, and don’t get to experience the bounty that’s coming our way.”
