Senior housing added to Lindbergh Walmart project; heads back to full council with ‘no recommendation’

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The proposed “big box” Walmart mixed-use development near Lindbergh City Center in south Buckhead was once again sent back to the full Atlanta City Council with “no recommendation” by both the Community Development/Human Resources and Zoning Committees, but after the zoning paper had been amended to include 100 affordable senior housing units.

Aaron Watson

The amendment to the zoning paper Wednesday morning in the Zoning Committee was made by At-Large Councilman Aaron Watson and would include the senior housing units within the original 216,399 square feet of housing proposed in the former site plan. Watson had submitted the original zoning paper for consideration. 

The motion to move that paper along to the full council on Monday with "no recommendation" was made by Zoning vice chair Keisha Lance Bottoms and was approved 6-1 "on condition that the new site plan is attached" by Monday when it goes before council. 

Dist. 6 Councilman Alex Wan, who chairs the Zoning Committee, was the only member of the committee to vote against both the amendment and the motion to send the zoning paper back to full council with "no recommendation." 

Dist. 7 Councilman Howard Shook abstained on the amendment vote but voted with council members Watson, Bottoms, Ivory Young Jr., Carla Smith and H. Lamar Willis to send the amended paper on to the full council with "no recommendation."  

The Wednesday morning Zoning Committee actions followed a vote on Tuesday by the Community Development/Human Resources Committee (CD/HR) to send the land use ordinance related to the development back to full council also with "no recommendation."  

Howard Shook

Shook, who is a member of both committees, made the motion at CD/HR on Tuesday that set the stage for a showdown at the regular council meeting October 1 between those on council supporting the mayor, Walmart and Fuqua Development and those standing behind the demands of the south Buckhead neighborhoods for rejection of the project.

Mayor Kasim Reed has voiced his support for new Walmart developments throughout the city.

BuckheadView Tuesday night heard that Fuqua, the developer for the proposed 21-acre project between Morosgo and Lindbergh drives off Piedmont Road, had come up with another new site plan that would add low-income or senior housing to entice approval by council of the requests for land use and zoning changes.

This map of the proposed Lindbergh mixed-use development
was prepared by Gordon Certain and includes site plan that
has been changed at least once if not several times.   

The inclusion of the senior housing units in the original housing square footage was done in order to eliminate the need for a new site plan with additional housing to require a new review by the Atlanta Regional Commission as a possible "development of regional impact" or even possibly having to go back through Neighborhood Planning Unit-B for a new review. 

NPU-B earlier considered the original proposal and several changes over almost 18 months and rejected it in several votes.

This is the old site plan that is included in the map above.

Just last week, the full council sent back to the two committees, by votes of 13-2 and 12-2, the land use ordinance and companion zoning paper. Those votes also came at the request of Shook, who represents the area of Buckhead where the mixed-use development would be located.

That vote by the full council gave community leaders and the developer time to work out a plan that might be acceptable to both. That apparently did not happen and the two issues once again falls back in the lap of the full council to decide.

The Community Development/Human Resources Committee vote Tuesday to send the ordinance back to full council was supported by Shook, and council members Alex Wan and Kwanza Hall. Committee chair Joyce Sheperd and member Cleta Winslow voted against the motion. Councilman Ivory Young Jr. did not attend the meeting.

Alex Wan

That substitute (#2) ordinance is to amend the Land Use Element of the 2011 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) so as to re-designate properties that are located at 690 Lindberg Drive, 723-745 Morosgo Drive, 2472-2480 Adina Drive and 2455 Piedmont Road, from the “High Density Residential” Land Use Designation to the “High Density Mixed Use” and “Very High Density Residential” Land Use Designations (Z-11-19); and for other purposes. (Legislative Reference No. 11-O-1248).

The Zoning Committee vote on Wednesday morning was to amend and then send the already previously amended companion paper to full council without recommendation. 

That companion paper was an amended ordinance to rezone properties known as 690 Lindbergh Drive, 723-745 Morosgo Drive, 2472-2480 Adina Drive and 2455 Piedmont Road, from the SPI-15 Subarea 8 (Special Public Interest Lindbergh Transit Station Area, Subarea 8, Lindberg Residential) to the SPI-15 Subarea 3 (Special Public Interest Lindbergh Transit Station Area Subarea 3 Piedmont Commercial) Zoning District; fronting approximately 1,500 feet on the north side of Lindbergh Drive, approximately 1,200 feet on the south side of Morosgo Drive, and approximately 800 feet on the west side of Adina Drive north, and 60 feet on the east side of Piedmont Road. (Legislative Reference No. 11-O-1067).

Developer Jeff Fuqua

The zoning paper cannot be considered by council unless and until the land-use ordinance is passed, because the zoning change is dependent on the land-use changes.

The effect of these papers before council would be to change the designation of the property from residential to commercial, with no requirement for a residential component in the development.

Earlier in the month, the Atlanta Regional Commission kicked the fate of the proposed 21-acre development near the Lindbergh MARTA station squarely back into the hands of the city of Atlanta, stating the project isn’t big enough to qualify as a “development of regional impact” and therefore does not fall within its purview.

But that did not stop the ARC from offering some suggestions for changes in the retail/residential project proposed by the Sembler Co. and Fuqua Development in its recent letter to Mayor Kasim Reed.

The main ARC suggestion was not to build a retail center.

The development site, which stretches between Morosgo Drive and Lindbergh Drive, is located across Piedmont Road the Lindbergh City Center project, which is a transit-oriented development at MARTA’s Lindbergh Station. Another reference point is that it is immediately south of the Home Depot and Target section of Lindbergh Plaza, which Sembler demolished, rebuilt and reopened in 2006.

The proposed development would provide 216,399 square feet of residential space and 183,600 square feet of retail space, including a 150,000-square-foot “big box” store which is rumored to be a Walmart. There also would be a three-acre park, which was endorsed by the Livable Buckhead organization according to the package the ARC sent to the mayor’s office.

ARC’s analysis that was sent to the mayor Aug. 28 stated: “While there are many good aspects of this project, it does not appear to support the city of Atlanta’s 2011 Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) or MARTA (Transit Oriented Development) guidelines.”

The ARC’s letter said, “The CDP provides guidance for TODs including ‘support a complementary, well- integrated mix of land uses’ and ‘provide a range of relatively high intensity uses that are transit supportive.’”

A satellite photo of the proposed Fuqua site plan on the Glenwood
Avenue site just south of I-20 in southeast Atlanta. 

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Andrea Bennett, chair of NPU-B’s Development & Transportation Committee and one of the more vocal opponents of the Fuqua plan, send BuckheadView an email including information about another Fuqua development on Glenwood Avenue south of I-20 in the city that includes a Walmart “big’box” store and a site plan very similar to the proposed Lindbergh development.

What the BeltLine organization had envisioned for the
Glenwood Avenue site next to its transit corridor

BuckheadView learned Tuesday that the Glenwood Avenue  proposed development is considered by the ARC to qualify as a “development of regional impact.” That development is located on the proposed BeltLine transit corridor and, according to the photos provided by Bennett, apparently was slated by the BeltLine organization for residential development, not a big-box retail development as proposed by Fuqua.

To see three major earlier stories about previous council action and Neighborhood Planning Units lobbying City Council on the two amendments, click here, and here, and here.