NPU-B celebrates those who helped defeat proposed Lindbergh area 'big box' Walmart development

type='html'>There was a chorus of praises being sung in the meeting room on the third floor of the Cathedral of St. Philip Tuesday night—praises for a community effort that stopped a proposed big box Walmart development in south Buckhead off Piedmont Road in the Lindbergh area.

NPU-B board member Abbie Shepherd

“This is a celebration,” declared Abbie Shepherd, a board member of Neighborhood Planning Unit-B, which was holding its October meeting. And, several members of the board pointed to why the celebration was fitting.

On Monday, the Atlanta City Council shelved a proposal by Fuqua Development to build 200,000 square feet of retail (including a 150,000-square-foot Walmart big box store) and more than 200 residential units on 21 acres just east of Piedmont Road in the Lindbergh Center area of south Buckhead.

It was the second time the proposed land use changes to the city’s 2011 Comprehensive Development Plan and companion paper for zoning changes from residential to mixed-use commercial designations for the property had been before the full City Council.

The two papers also had twice previously been before both the Community Development/Human Resources and Zoning Committees of City Council and on both occasions been sent on to the full council with “no recommendation.”

The zoning paper could not be considered until the land use ordinance was passed by council. By council rules, the land use ordinance needed eight yes votes to pass. It was denied by a vote of seven yeas and six nays. Then the land use ordinance and zoning papers were voted 11-2 and 10-2 to be “filed,” which essentially means they were dismissed.

(For the BuckheadView story on the City Council action, go here.)

Atlanta city planner
Jessica Lavandier

The “file” period lasts for the next 24 months as stated in the city’s zoning ordinance, said Jessica Lavandier, principal planner for the city's Bureau of Planning. 

“It can be reduced to 12 months,” Lavandier said. “Someone else can come and submit something different and maybe that could be accepted. Any other application that comes forward will have to come all the way through the process,” meaning starting with NPU-B again.  

It was the NPU-B board, Development & Transportation and Zoning  committees that had struggled with the proposed land use and zoning changes requested by the developer and urged for a more urban plan for almost 18 months, voting down one proposal after another.

But, after the city’s Zoning Review Board voted to approve the zoning request to change the 21-acre parcel from a residential to commercial designation—ignoring the NPU’s denials and the objections of Buckhead residents neighborhood groups—it became evident this was going to be a tough fight.

NPU-B chair Sally Silver

But Atlanta residents fought back and finally got their way on Monday, demanding that City Council uphold the city’s 2011 Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) and comply with the development rules laid out in the city’s Special Public Interest district 15 (SPI-15) documents adopted about a dozen years ago and reaffirmed since.

The SPI-15 documents lay the groundwork to preserve the area—and specifically the tract of land between Morosgo and Lindbergh drives and Piedmont Road and Adina Drive—for residential and pedestrian-friendly transit-oriented development (TOD). 

“We never vote to deny something unless we have a legal basis to stand on,” NPU-B chair Sally Silver said Tuesday at its monthly meeting, temporarily being held at Cathedral of St. Philip in Buckhead.

“This is the first time ever for other NPU’s to stand up and lock arms with us. … It’s about all of us, and everything we believe in and care about this city.” Silver added.

NPU-B Development & Transportation
Committee chair Andrea Bennett

What Silver was referring to was an resolution passed by the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board (APAB), which represents all of the city’s 25 NPUs, by which all of the city’s NPUs urged City Council not to change the CDP and SPI-15 by approving the proposed Lindbergh developers requests for land use and zoning changes.

Andrea Bennett, NPU-B Development & Transportation Committee chair, said it was important to realize it was not just Buckhead residents who opposed the developer’s requests, but people throughout Atlanta. 

“When you have the professionals, NPUs all over the city, and hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals saying we don’t want to throw it [the law] out," Bennett said, “The question is what will the city council do? And I am pleased this time that they stood by this. … It was so incredible the city stood its ground and did not just cave in to requested changes.” 

Bennett was the one who started the chorus of praises at Tuesday night’s meeting, pointing to the months of work and time spent attending meetings at city hall by people like Shepherd and Silver and other NPU-B board members Bill Bozarth and Michael Isaacs, as well as NPU-F chair Jane Rawlings and officers of NPUs Z and N across town from Buckhead.

The most important thing that came out of this, Bennett said, “Is that the city officials will uphold long-term planning.”

Declaring “we were incredibly lucky,” Silver announced she wants to call a special meeting of the NPU-B Executive Committee to recap this situation “and go over the laws and how to handle these projects.” She pointed out that Buckhead “is getting ready to crank up a lot of development. We need to be prepared.”