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The Challenges of Rezoning and Zoning Entitlements: Part 1

By Bill Adams, MBA, CCIM, ALC, CRB, Founder, Adams Realtors

Many of our commercial real estate transactions involve urban properties in areas where the land use is in transition, meaning rezoning is often inevitable. A good example is a property that Adams Realtors’ Michael Reeves, CCIM sold in 2020 at Boulevard and the Atlanta Beltline in Atlanta’s Grant Park neighborhood. The existing building on the property was an industrial, cold storage facility that was both functionally and economically obsolete. The property’s purchaser is building a mixed-use project with ground level retail and 323 apartment units. Like similar “infill” projects, the property had to be rezoned.

For complex projects like the one mentioned above, hiring an experienced zoning attorney will be an invaluable part of the development team. For a developer considering a project where the land will have to be rezoned, a good first step is to review the local government’s Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP). For example, the City of Atlanta’s CDP is revised every five years and looks at land use 15 years into the future. The CDP may call for a future land use that meshes with your planned development.

As part of that first step, a developer will want to confirm the existing zoning and determine if there are any other regulations that may affect the use of a property. The property mentioned above is within the Atlanta Beltline Overlay District and just outside the Grant Park Historic District. For multifamily development, the city or county may have an inclusionary zoning regulation which calls for a certain percentage of the units to be set aside as affordable. To offset the inclusionary zoning set aside, the local government may offer a density bonus which allows a developer to increase the number of units planned for a multifamily development.

Once the developer has completed their initial regulatory due diligence, it is time to engage the neighborhood. I would suggest attending a neighborhood association meeting and checking out the neighborhood’s website to get the lay of the land in a community. When the developer has the property under contract and has some preliminary drawings, it is best to meet with the immediate neighbors to get their feedback. Sometimes a developer will receive strong pushback from the neighbors and will have to decide whether to kill the project or proceed. Many successful developers seek to collaborate with the neighbors on a project design that works for both parties. It is always best to have the community on your side when beginning a formal rezoning process.

The second part of this blog will discuss the steps from filing a rezoning application to its approval and the many opportunities along the way for the application to be turned down, adjusted and potentially approved.

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The Challenges of Rezoning and Zoning Entitlements: Part 2 »

About Us

• As a native Atlantan who grew up in a house built by my grandparents in 1902 across the street from Grant Park, I have always loved the City’s downtown and historic intown neighborhoods. I went to school from the first grade through graduate school in downtown Atlanta.

As a child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I witnessed and mourned the decline of those wonderful old “close-in” neighborhoods and their business districts. By the time I was in my early 20s in the late ’60s, I had gotten involved in early intown revitalization efforts in Grant Park under the auspices of a program known as “Model Cities.” After a tour of duty in the Army and Graduate Business School at Georgia State University, I joined the forerunner of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association in late 1974. In the early 1970s most intown neighborhoods were “redlined” by banks and neglected by the local government. The neighborhood revitalization movement in Atlanta was in its infancy. Banks refused to make real estate loans in these “high-risk” neighborhoods. The level of city services was poor and to make matters worse, the city had rezoned many of these neighborhoods from single-family to multifamily residential in the 1950s.

I became a neighborhood activist in Grant Park and, along with others, helped to bring about one of the largest “down zonings” in City history, converting the area back to single-family/duplex zoning from apartment zoning. I was also a community representative and later President of the local Neighborhood Housing Services program, which helped local lenders understand the housing market in the City’s neighborhoods and helped end their practice of not making loans in these communities. I later served as a neighborhood association and Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) Chair as well as a board member of the civic groups working to restore the Cyclorama in Grant Park and historic Oakland Cemetery.

All these experiences have had a profound effect on me and the company that I founded in 1979. I had a commercial real estate background but came to realize that strong neighborhoods are vital to a city’s quality of life and its commercial core. Adams Commercial’s approach to real estate has always reflected the values of neighborhood activism. Our transactions involve people, not just numbers. We are in the problem solving and information business. After more than 40 years of service, our goal is to complete our client’s purchase or investment while at the same time adding value to the community through that transaction.

I hope that you find our website to be a helpful tool whether you are planning to buy, sell or are trying to get a good feel for the state of the commercial real estate market in Atlanta. If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me at wtadams@adamscre.com. If you have an interest in commercial real estate, please visit our Adams Commercial Real Estate Website at adamscre.com.

Thanks,

Bill Adams, MBA, CCIM, ALC, CRB
President
ADAMS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Atlanta, GA

Our Core Values: Success, Integrity, Wisdom, Dependability, Community

At Adams Commercial we define SUCCESS when our clients get up from their closing with a smile. To accomplish this,  we start by putting the needs of our clients first, which to us is the essence of INTEGRITY. We bring the collective WISDOM of our agents to every real estate deal … wisdom that comes only from the company’s years of business experience and expertise in intown markets. Whether it is showing up at the appointed time or making sure all details are noted and deadlines met, we believe DEPENDABILITY is also an essential ingredient of a successful real estate transaction. We believe that your successful purchase or sale adds value to COMMUNITY. And we are proud to play a role in building and sustaining a thriving community.

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