City Council sends both land use, zoning changes for Lindbergh big box development back to committees

TheAtlanta City Council today sent back to committee by a vote of 13-2  and 12-2 both the land use ordinance andcompanion zoning paper pertaining to the controversial proposed big box Walmartdevelopment for the Lindbergh area of south Buckhead.

Howard Shook

Thevote came at the request of Dist. 7 City Councilman Howard Shook, who sits onboth committees and represents the area of Buckhead where the proposed 21-acremixed-use development would be located off Piedmont Road between Morosgo andLindbergh drives.

Community leaders and developers Sembler Co. and Fuqua Development now have two weeks to work out a plan that will be acceptable to both and beneficial to the community before it likely will come before council again.
Sentback to the Community Development/Human Resources Committee was a substitute(#2) ordinance to amend the Land Use Element of the 2011 Atlanta ComprehensiveDevelopment Plan (CDP) so as to re-designate properties that are located at 690Lindberg Drive, 723-745 Morosgo Drive, 2472-2480 Adina Drive and 2455 PiedmontRoad, from the “High Density Residential” Land Use Designation to the “HighDensity Mixed Use” and “Very High Density Residential” Land UseDesignations  (Z-11-19); and for other purposes. (Legislative ReferenceNo. 11-O-1248).

The location of the controversial 21-acre proposed project.

Shortly after, councilmembers sent the companion zoning paper back to the Zoning Committee where it wasoriginated by Councilman Aaron Watson, who also lives in Buckhead.
The companion paperwas an amended ordinance to rezone properties known as 690 Lindbergh Drive,723-745 Morosgo Drive, 2472-2480 Adina Drive and 2455 Piedmont Road, from theSPI-15 Subarea 8 (Special Public Interest Lindbergh Transit Station Area,Subarea 8, Lindberg Residential) to the SPI-15 Subarea 3 (Special PublicInterest Lindbergh Transit Station Area Subarea 3 Piedmont Commercial) ZoningDistrict; fronting approximately 1,500 feet on the north side of LindberghDrive, approximately 1,200 feet on the south side of Morosgo Drive, andapproximately 800 feet on the west side of Adina Drive north, and 60 feet onthe east side of Piedmont Road. (Legislative Reference No. 11-O-1067).

Felicia Moore

Alex Wan

The twodissenting votes on both issues were by Dist. 6 Councilman Alex Wan and Dist. 9Councilwoman Felicia Moore, who both represent parts of Buckhead. It ispresumed they wanted an up-or-down vote on the ordinance and the indicationswere that both would vote against amending the CDP land use element. Wan ischair of the Zoning Committee and vice chair of CD/HR.
Thezoning papers had to also be sent back to committee after the land useordinance had earlier been referred back to committee. The requested zoningchanges cannot be voted on by council until the land use change has beenapproved.  
Thereason the vote was different on the zoning paper was that Dist. 10 Councilman C.T.Martin did not vote on that issue.

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