From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution February 16, 2006 Thursday
DeKalb resolves infill issue;
Rule gives neighborhoods a say over 'McMansions'
DAVID PENDERED
DeKalb County residents who were abuzz Wednesday over the county's new
regulations on building big houses in existing neighborhoods say the measure
is the best political solution to a highly emotional debate.
Lucinda Headrick has lived for 20 years in Oak Grove, just east of I-85 near
the Clairmont Road interchange. Oak Grove was one of the first areas in
DeKalb to experience the infill phenomenon of tearing down smaller houses
and replacing them with ones that might be three to four times larger.
"Our neighborhood has been hit very hard," Headrick said. "We're not against
development, but we are against excessive height and monsters. And the
developers are cutting down the trees. Three or four were knocked down
[Wednesday] on a site near my home. We have to do something to protect our
neighborhoods."
DeKalb's commissioners approved a zoning code Tuesday that allows
neighborhoods to seek special zoning overlay district that will keep new
houses from towering over existing homes. At least 55 percent of residents
in a defined geographic area must sign a petition to come under the overlay
district.
In those districts, the two-point code forbids building new houses that are
higher than 28 feet, measured from the front threshold of the new house to
the highest point of the roof. It also prevents raising the threshold of the
new house more than two feet higher than that of the previous house.
The vote ends a two-year struggle in DeKalb to get a handle on the
controversial infill issue.
Residents and elected officials in DeKalb and Atlanta have been working in
concert to craft infill regulations. They have shared information and
ventured down separate paths in search of a solution that would enable
continuing development while protecting the appearance of neighborhoods.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin called Monday for the city to address the
infill issue by rewriting citywide zoning codes that have not been updated
comprehensively since 1982. Franklin crystallized the debate in the city
last month by issuing a temporary building ban on big new houses in some
neighborhoods. Atlanta Councilwoman Mary Norwood had requested the temporary
moratorium as part of her broader effort to pass infill legislation.
DeKalb's Infill Task Force initially proposed a countywide infill ordinance
that would provide for an orderly redevelopment of neighborhoods. New houses
in existing neighborhoods could have been only somewhat larger than nearby
homes. That idea ran into opposition and commissioners have been working on
a compromise since September.
DeKalb County Commissioner Elaine Boyer, who fought the proposed countywide
ordinance, said the new code balances the interests of neighborhoods where a
majority of residents don't want tall houses with those of homeowners who
may be ready to sell their homes at the kind of profits associated with
selling as a tear-down.
"With a lot of throes and gnashing of teeth, we created a solution and
passed something and beat Atlanta to finding a solution," Boyer said. "Once
in a while we like to be leaders in DeKalb, and infill is a national issue
where people are looking for solutions."
Rick Porter, a home builder who served as co-chair of the task force, said
there are pros and cons to the new code.
"It's certainly good to give communities some input into how they want their
communities to evolve," Porter said. "The bad news is that this could be
unwieldy to administer and create a wide array of expectations. In our
committee, we kept coming back to the idea that an overlay district was not
the best route. But given the confusion and politics, this seems to be the
only consensus."
DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon said the county can properly
oversee the program, and she's glad to see something passed after the years
of debate.
"This is a good compromise," Gannon said. "I was in favor of a countywide
ordinance, but the political reality was that the commission was not able to
get behind a countywide ordinance.
"The overlay district is an opportunity for local neighborhoods to
self-impose restrictions on themselves," said Gannon, whose district covers
hot real estate markets in the western half of DeKalb. "It's a rather
lengthy process, a little more onerous than I would like if I were the
community advocate, but it does provide for due process so everyone has a
chance to know about it and express an opinion."
Norwood said Atlanta should review DeKalb's code, but she thinks the city
may need several programs to address the various types of houses in Atlanta.
"They have two fact-based regulations, one on height and one on changing the
grade of the site," Norwood said. "That bodes well for other jurisdictions
to say that there are elements of residential development that we can decide
work best for a community or don't work for the community."
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