Major transit-oriented project advances in Atlanta suburb

Courtesy of TSW

The City of Doraville, Georgia, approved a new form-based code for a town center including a former General Motors Assembly plant. The code covers a large sector to the north and south of a MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station. The GM site is the largest property in the area. “At 165 acres, it dwarfs any other completed or planned transit-oriented project in the region,” says Caleb Racicot, a planner with TSW.

Up to 5,000 housing units and 16,000 jobs could be added to the development area in the next three or four decades. The plan calls for an urban center and downtown with perhaps 50 blocks and several major public spaces — plus a half dozen or so other small parks and squares.

The city has already received development interest on a number of smaller parcels within the FBC area. The GM site is still owned by General Motors, but The Integral Group, an Atlanta-based developer, is looking to complete acquisition this summer.

Livable Community Code

Funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) as part of its Livable Centers Initiative program, the new zoning, known as the Livable Community Code, was created by TSW, an Atlanta-based planning, architecture and landscape architecture firm, in partnership with the City of Doraville. “The new code represents a turning point for our city and promises to usher in exciting new changes,” said Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman. 

The project is part of a joint effort between MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) and ARC to spur transit-oriented development throughout the greater Atlanta area. The goal is to increase transit ridership and reduce sprawl by creating livable centers that coalesce around a mix of uses including residential, commercial and entertainment.

Doraville is a fairly close-in suburb, just within Atlanta’s beltway, with a population of more than 8,000.

To the south of the transit line is the existing heart of Doraville, and it will likely be the first to be developed as a transit-oriented development (TOD). It includes housing and Doraville’s existing civic center and also large underutilized or undeveloped parcels. In this area, the code and regulating plan specify new streets that developers must agree to build in order to gain entitlement. This area is zoned as urban center (the intensity and mix of a main street) and urban core (the intensity and mix of an urban downtown).

“While the opportunity to redevelop the GM site was the impetus for the re-zoning, we also want to transform our downtown into a more walkable, urban area,” said Joe Cooley, director of community development for the City of Doraville. 

Adaptation of SmartCode

The FBC is a “straight adaptation of the SmartCode,” says Racicot, who led the project for TSW. For the code, TSW was hired by the city and paid through a $15,000 grant from the ARC, plus an in-kind contribution from Racicot. In 2010, TSW completed a downtown master plan that  “created a vision for bringing together housing, office, entertainment, retail, dining and public spaces, in a compact and well-designed setting,” Racicot says. “Refining the zoning to support this plan and the redevelopment of the former General Motors site was key to making the vision a reality.”

The area to the north of the MARTA station, the GM site that closed in 2008, will require environmental remediation and is several years away from development. A vision plan was created for this site — a planned intensity of urban core and urban center — but no specific regulating plan. The code specifies a maximum block size, which will create a connected grid of streets, Racicot explains.

Many stakeholders participated in the Downtown Plan and helped define policies, including encouraging green development and creating a community where residents can age in place. The plan serves as a guideline for future development, and provides the groundwork for implementing future transportation projects.

Central to the effort was establishing a plan that would improve connectivity, encourage market-viable and pedestrian-friendly mixed-use development, promote increased density to support transit and a vibrant community center, maintain diversity, ensure multiple transportation options and support economic growth and a high quality of life. 

Note: This article appears in the current print issue of Better Cities & Towns.

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