Forced to grow fast, now, more than ever, the metro area is committed to growing smart
By Molly Dickinson
The Motivation
Between 1990 and 1998, metro Atlanta’s exploded to the unprecedented tune of more than 550,000 new residents. That’s akin to everyone in the state of Wyoming moving to Atlanta—and about 10,000 of them bringing an out-of-state friend along.
Lured by a flush housing market and the picket-fence iconography of the American Dream, a majority of these newcomers set up house in the city’s ballooning outskirts, where seemingly endless tracts of shovel-ready suburban land beckoned far from the noise and neon of the city center. Unfortunately, their homes were also far from their predominately urban jobs. The by-product of several hundred thousand additional cars commuting back and forth on a vastly underprepared highway system soon took its toll. Air quality suffered and crawling traffic patterns led marooned motorists to dub the city the “Los Angeles of the South.”
But Atlanta would rise from the thickening smog just as it had risen from the smoke of General Sherman’s fires in 1864. It would rebuild, renovate and reinvent itself from the ground up, re-emerging as one of the nation’s budding “sustainable cities” and leading the Southeast’s slow-but-steady charge into a cleaner, greener future.
The Movement
“The smart growth movement in Atlanta generally advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools and mixed-use developments with a range of housing choices,” explains Jeff DuFresne, executive director of the Atlanta chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a global, non-profit research, education and leadership organization for responsible land use. Although smart growth as a full-blown “movement” has gained much of its breadth and notoriety in just the past few years, and despite the intimidating swarm of buzzwords (“new urbanism,” “green belt,” “TND”), DuFresne insists it’s all rather simple. “I’d simply define ‘smart growth’ as the responsible use of land that achieves harmony between man and nature. It’s growth that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.”
The simplicity or, “common sense,” of smart growth is a major reason the trend has become de rigueur among metro area real estate heads, but another, perhaps even greater, rationale is its versatility. Smart growth principles dictate that where and how a community lives and moves must be coherent with the community’s environment and lifestyle, and that a balance must be achieved that will sustain—rather then drain—the resources and infrastructure necessary for that community to succeed. Hence the term “sustainability.” This is why a dozen stories of loft homes crowning several thousand square feet of high-end commercial real estate—though a prime example of a smart growth project—is not the same model being marketed to small-town, small business boroughs.
Accordingly, the metro area already boasts dozens of strikingly diverse smart growth developments—from the 138-acre Atlantic Station, a mixed-use urban mecca resurrected from a former steel mill, to anti-sprawl “town centers” and dense, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in Atlanta’s ever popular ‘burbs—with more projects packing the pipelines every day.
The Magna cum Laude
Of course, there are those select few projects whose IQs are just a bit more impressive than the rest—those overachieving, medal-studded developments who set the sustainable standards for what smart growth in Atlanta is all about.
“Glenwood Park is a great smart growth development—I think it’s one of the best examples-—and Serenbe, which is actually a suburban development, those are really flagship smart growth properties,” says Mark Riley, managing partner of Atlanta’s famed Urban Realty Partners (URP). All of URP’s properties, including award-winning projects like The Reynolds, Brookwood and Oakland Park, are built intown using sustainable materials and building practices, and feature everything from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications and container gardens to one-acre “green” decks. In Atlanta smart growth circles, a nod from Riley is a major compliment.
A nod from DuFresne is equally impressive. “The City of Decatur has also embraced smart growth planning,” he says, “with their focus on four improvement areas for their community—improving public health; providing safe choices; increasing a sense of community; and increasing connectivity.” Here, DuFresne acknowledges another, increasingly lauded and beloved trend of smart growth: neighborhood revitalization.
Atlanta has always been a city of neighborhoods. Any seasoned city dweller can rattle off a list while describing, in detail, the location (in relation to other neighborhoods, of course), major attractions and general vibe of each distinct district: Buckhead—North of Midtown, south of Sandy Springs; ritzy retail and restaurants, new high-rise luxury condos, old money. Little Five Points—Between Inman Park and Virginia-Highland; kitsch and vintage shops, sticker-plastered indie music venues, incense-scented bohemia. Our collective affection for these character-rich enclaves induces a fierce protective instinct—Atlanta wants its cherished neighborhoods to live on, which means they have to become sustainable.
In many ways, redeveloping an entire city or neighborhood under smart growth principles is not unlike redeveloping a single property, says DuFresne. “Each must respond to the needs of the marketplace as well as the physical environment.” He goes on to describe how any smart growth property, no matter its scope, should strive for common goals and practices, like connecting housing and transportation and involving citizens in the planning and investment processes. That’s exactly what cities like Woodstock, Decatur, Suwanee and Smyrna are doing—and doing well.
“What spurred our smart growth area —our town center—was that we wanted a focal point, a bona fide downtown,” says Denise Brinson, Suwanee’s Economic and Community Development director. In the early 2000s, suburban-based Suwanee began drawing up plans for a town center—a gathering place connected to their soon-to-be renovated historic district in an accessible, attractive area that would become the beating heart of their once sprawling community. Today, Suwanee’s town center is a model, mixed-use development featuring pedestrian and bike-friendly trails, bridges and a future underpass connecting it to the revamped historic district—all crowned with a green jewel of a park which Brinson calls Suwanee’s “front yard.” Along with similarly winning developments in Woodstock, Smyrna and Duluth, Suwanee is living proof that sustainable suburbs are possible—even in the former sprawl capital of the U.S.
The Master Plan
Atlanta is working hard to overcome its former reputation as a city that grew too big, too fast and too far, and it is succeeding ten-fold. This year, Atlanta is poised to become one of the first U.S. cities to require commercial green-building standards, and already leads the Southeast (and much of the nation) in LEED-certified construction. With billions funneled into transit and urban improvement measures like the Beltline Project, and more and more surrounding metro counties joining the campaign, Atlanta’s sustainability score is skyrocketing as quickly as its population did two decades ago. With national and local legislation, a slowly recovering economy and an increasing number of residents all favoring smart growth practices, the Peach City shows no signs of slowing down—at least when it comes to building better, brighter communities.
“Where there’s change, there is opportunity,” says DuFresne. “Atlanta will continue to be one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States in the coming years. We have a great opportunity to lead the way in terms of generating smart and sustainable growth.”
As residents from all corners of the metro Atlanta area can agree—we’re off to a brilliant start.
Charting Change
The History of Smart Growth in Atlanta
1990 – Thirteen metro Atlanta counties designated a “serious nonattainment” area for federal ozone standards set by the EPA.
1995 – The Georgia Conservancy, the National Homebuilders Association and ULI Atlanta host educational conferences linking community planning and environmental conservation.
1997 – The Midtown Alliance, a coalition of residents and businesses, establishes a neighborhood-based planning process called Blueprint Midtown, resulting in a $41 million investment in pedestrian-friendly streets.
1998 – John Williams (founder of Post Properties), Ray Weeks (CEO of Weeks Property Group) and other Atlanta real estate giants commit to producing intown, mixed-use developments.
1999 – The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) established with a mission to improve transportation and air quality. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) unveils its 25-Year Transportation Plan, a $40 billion initiative to increase mobility and lower emissions, and the Livable Centers Initiative, a program encouraging sustainable communities.
2000 – GPTA expands its mission to include responsible land use in accordance with ARC’s Regional Development Plan, promoting smart growth practices for transit and activity centers.
2002 – The City of Atlanta implements live/work, multi-family and mixed-use zoning ordinances. Construction begins at Atlantic Station and Lindbergh City Center, two of Atlanta’s most prominent transit-oriented developments.
2006 – Phase one of the Beltline Project, a 25-year plan to revitalize and connect neighborhoods, businesses and green spaces along a neglected rail corridor, begins.
2008 – An ordinance that would require all new construction in the city of Atlanta to conform to green-building standards by 2012 is drafted by Sustainable Atlanta under Mayor Shirley Franklin.
Suwanee: Beauty and Brains
In Suwanee, sustainability isn’t just smart, it’s beautiful. Check out the city’s ongoing plans to prettify its prize-winning downtown district while adding to its green IQ:
Smart Art – A new city initiative will contract with local and national artists to concentrate public art in downtown areas. New buildings will be encouraged to spend one percent of construction costs on an aesthetic element that will enhance the city’s “pedestrian” appeal.
Naturally Beautiful – The city is currently working with residents, Team-Agro Engineers, Farmer D Organics and others to plant an organic community garden on nearly 7-acres of land between Buford Highway and White Street. The garden/park will feature multiple plots, sustainable farming techniques, paths and plenty of gorgeous, delicious agricultural “art.”
Architectural Intelligence
ARC’s Developments of Excellence
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), in concert with the Livable Communities Coalition, has been recognizing standout sustainable properties in the metro area for more than a decade. Here are just a few of the recent honorees that made the grade:
2002
- Smyrna Market Village, Smyrna, Ga.
2003
- Chattahoochee Hill Country Master Plan,
- South Fulton County, Ga.
2004
- Atlantic Station, Atlanta
- West Highlands, Atlanta
2005
2006
- Inman Park Village, Atlanta
- Downtown Woodstock, Woodstock, Ga.
2007
- Serenbe, South Fulton County, Ga.
- Downtown Duluth, Duluth, Ga.
2008
- Blueprint Midtown, Atlanta
- Oakland Park, Atlanta
Smyrna:
On the Horizon
This suburban hub is celebrated for its mixed-used developments—West Village and Smyrna Market Village both earned ARC Development of Excellence awards—and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the metro area. Fortunately, with new projects like these underway, Smyrna is also one of the smartest:
- Jonquil Plaza – A 12-acre downtown strip mall area will transform into 300 homes sustainably stacked above 120,000-plus square feet of pedestrian-friendly office and shopping space.
- The Bellmont Hills – More than 120,000 square feet of commercial space and 700 housing units, complete with wide, tree-lined sidewalks and curbside businesses, will replace a massive shopping center parking lot that was once the largest in the Southeast.