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Community Briefs L I N D BER G H CEN TER MI X ED - US E R EM AK E GETS A Z ON I N G B OOST
MARTA’s desire for mixed-use, transit-oriented development around Lindbergh Center Station is close to getting a long-sought zoning designation that could make the vision easier to achieve. That’s significant as negotiations continue on a major apartment, hotel and retail project on Piedmont Road. NPU-B on Dec. 4 approved including Lindbergh Center in the Special Public Interest District 15 zoning, which currently applies to the other side of Piedmont, replacing a previous designation that allows more traditional, and often car-centric, commercial uses, among other factors. Nearly 20 years ago, Lindbergh Center was planned as MARTA’s first transit-oriented development, but ended up more mall-like. At the same time, it was left out of SPI-15, though with the understanding it would one day be included. Now MARTA is trying to do better mixed-use at Lindbergh, where the transit agency is also headquartered. The owners of a vacant Shoney’s restaurant at 2450 Piedmont earlier this year won a bid from MARTA for two neighboring parcels and are proposing the large mixed-use project. A MARTA spokesperson said that talks
about that project continue and that the transit agency has not put any other parcels out to bid yet. The SPI-15 zoning, which still needs city approval, would give “better teeth” to mixed-use zoning intent, city planner Tshaka Warren told the NPU.
BUC SHU TTLE CO U LD BEC O M E O N-D EM AND ‘MICR O TR ANSIT’
The Buc Shuttle that serves business district commuters could become on-demand “microtransit” in a kind of van-meets-Uber approach, according to a consultant studying the service’s future. Operated under the supervision of Livable Buckhead since 2003, the shuttle is currently a small bus that provides commuter service to MARTA stations on two routes: Buckhead Station to Piedmont Center, and Lenox Station to Lenox Park. Its service has been cut back in recent years and consultant Joel Mann is now reviewing options for its future. At the Nov. 28 meeting of the Buckhead Community Improvement District board, Mann previewed the status of his ongoing study. It’s leaning towards fare-free, subsidized “microtransit” serving a zone rather than a route. Riders would use some type of app to call for the service. Such vehicles
are in service in such cities as Tampa, Fla., he said, though not operating at commuter-service scale. A big question is who the future shuttle is intended to serve, he said: commuters going to transit stations; home-to-office commuters; general neighborhood connections; or any combo of the three.
B U CKHEAD CID TO GI V E $50K TO HO M ELESSN ES S PR O G R AM
The Buckhead Community Improvement District will contribute $50,000 in seed money to a major program aimed at solving chronic homelessness in the city. HomeFirst Atlanta, a joint effort of the city and the United Way’s Regional Commission on Homelessness, aims to raise $50 million and leverage even more funds for a variety of tactics to provide housing and otherwise reduce chronic homelessness. At the BCID’s Nov. 28 board meeting, member Thad Ellis of Cousins Properties said he and Executive Director Jim Durrett recently met with Jack Hardin, an Atlanta businessman well-known for his work on homeless assistance. Ellis said they learned that overall homelessness in Atlanta is decreasing, but chronic homeless is an increasing problem.
Durrett said Hardin’s pitch for HomeFirst is that homelessness cannot be eliminated, because someone will always fall on hard times, but the goal is to “make it shortterm, limited and not re-occurring.” Buckhead’s own homeless population is not known with certainty, though several people often can be seen sleeping on the sidewalks of Peachtree Road. Ellis said, “It’s in the dozens, not hundreds.” Ellis said that the lack of a reliable count of people experiencing homelessness is one problem with programs, and that HomeFirst intends to do a better census as part of providing outreach services. Durrett said the $50,000, provided over two years, is similar to funds being provided by Downtown and Midtown CIDs. Board member Robin Suggs, who manages the Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza malls, questioned the use of funds from the self-taxing business district, which generally exists to improve traffic, public safety and aesthetics. “I’m very supportive of the homeless issue, but does this fall into the purview of the CID?” she asked. BCID attorney Lynn Rainey said he believes it is, under a bylaws clause that allows spending on anything with the effect of “encouraging development of the district.” The underlying idea is that having fewer homeless people visible on the streets would be good for business.
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