By Guest Columnists JIM KULSTAD, LORI LELAND-KIRK AND CAROLYN H. RADER, environmental advocate, urban planners and friends of Alycen Whiddon
Unsung visionary, landscape architect and urban planner, Alycen Whiddon left a permanent legacy in the urban design of Atlanta that we all enjoy today. Long before linking greenway trails, creating pedestrian and bike-friendly streets and zoning for vibrant urban spaces were commonly accepted concepts, Alycen was their champion.
Atlanta on Tuesday advanced an amended long-range development plan that eliminates major objections raised by residents and instructs city planners to abide by state rules on community involvement in future planning.
The Atlanta BeltLine may be the third rail in this year’s city politics, as well as a near mystical vision so deep in the city’s psyche that failure to fulfill could be disastrous – the very definition of “too big to fail.”
In 2016, a consultant in Arizona submitted to Atlanta’s planning department the population forecast that is driving Atlanta’s proposal to retool the city to house an additional 700,000 residents by 2050.
Atlanta will take a month to reconsider a controversial proposal to boost residential density in traditional neighborhoods. In addition, the plan drew significant challenge Tuesday from two ranking members of Atlanta City Council.
A boom in truck traffic is expected by 2050 in metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Rail cargo also is likely to increase significantly, and with it congestion at grade-level intersections of train tracks and roads.
By Guest Columnist MIKE DOBBINS, Georgia Tech professor of practice and former Atlanta planning commissioner
Stop, look and listen. Atlanta’s misguided densification planning and zoning strategy is barreling down the tracks. It has many negatives – it will exacerbate the housing affordability crisis, destabilize neighborhoods and gut the NPUs ability to shape their neighborhood’s future.
Atlanta’s proposal to change social dynamics and housing prices in neighborhoods with single-family houses faces a rising number of challenges in the final days of debate.
The MARTA expansion plan reconfirmed this summer by MARTA’s board includes projects that are to serve a busy vortex of redevelopment in Atlanta – an east-west corridor stretching from Summerhill to West End.
By Guest Columnist HEATHER HUBBLE, ULI Atlanta Advisory Board
Shaping the Future of the Built Environment for Transformative Impact in Communities Worldwide. This is the mission of the Urban Land Institute, a global nonprofit education and research organization, founded in 1936, with a strong local chapter.
Atlanta has postponed until after city elections the likely date of a vote by the Atlanta City Council on three proposals intended to promote construction of affordable dwellings in existing residential neighborhoods and eliminate some on-site parking requirements.
By Guest Columnist SALLY FLOCKS, Founder and former president, PEDS
Nothing encourages walking more than the presence of other people and having places worth walking to.
Atlanta notified the federal government in May that it is pursuing policies to remove barriers to affordable housing, according to a report required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At some point, environmental issues can become personal. That’s become the case at Cumberland Island, where Karen Grainey has declared her opposition to a dock that her allies think could be a precursor for a 10-house subdivision on the nationally protected island.
Lending practices for affordable housing and underserved communities are among the topics expected to rise to the forefront at the nation’s biggest housing finance institutions following a ruling Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Additional construction delays forecast at Plant Vogtle could cause its customers to face higher electricity rates than currently envisioned, according to three credit rating actions issued Monday by Moody’s Investors Service.
A new chapter in the saga of Plant Vogtle has commenced. The issue is whether Georgia Power customers will or won’t pay an extra $235 million a year in capital costs to build the nuclear plant, or if the rate hike request will be delayed.
By Guest Columnist PATTY DURAND, president of Cool Planet Solutions
Georgia Power has the only nuclear plant under construction in the United States, which I call “Georgia’s Shame.” It is shameful that the timeline the utility provided to regulators, investors and the public – those of us paying for this plant – is now six years behind schedule. And it is shameful that the utility’s cost estimates for this plant were off by a shocking 100%: The original cost estimate for the two new units was $14 billion, and 2021 costs are near or at $30 billion.
Georgia’s latest efforts to strengthen rural Georgia include last week’s unveiling of a transportation initiative, more broadband and continued maintenance of state-owned railroads that offer an alternative to shipping freight by trucks on highways.
The drag queen RuPaul’s early career at a building now known as the Atlanta Eagle could help avert the city’s proposal to allow future development above and behind the structure, including some structural demolition and the potential relocation of the KODAK sign to some other spot on the property.
