Arts Agenda - Not a rousing endorsement
But enough to get Sembler Co. a step closer to its plans for Moreland Avenue
Sembler Co. is getting its ducks in a row. On Monday, the neighbors who perhaps have the most to lose by the development voted to endorse — grudgingly — Sembler’s plans for a massive retail and residential complex on Moreland Avenue just south of Little Five Points. The 75-to-30 vote came just hours after the Atlanta Regional Commission, satisfied with concessions put forth by Sembler, gave the project the green light.
The nods are sure to help convince the members of Atlanta’s zoning review board, which holds the future of Sembler’s plans for Moreland in its hands. The board will vote whether to change the zoning of the 42-acre parcel from industrial to commercial, which allows for mixed uses like shops, residences and offices. Without that change, Sembler could build only retail stores — much like the Borders/Home Depot development it built on Ponce de Leon — and no residences.
That realization influenced the Feb. 24 vote by Edgewood residents; the mixed-use plan was simply the lesser of two evils.
Indeed, the neighbors have won serious concessions from Sembler, which has scaled back its ambitions for the parcel from 1.3 million square feet of retail space to just under 600,000. And Jeff Fuqua, Sembler’s president of development, agreed to put $500,000 into an escrow account to be used for traffic-calming measures that could include speed humps, narrower roads and traffic circles (instead of intersections with stop signs). The project, which will include big box retail stores surrounded by residences and restaurants, is expected to draw an additional 20,000 cars a day on Moreland Avenue.
To satisfy the ARC, the company added 100 more residential units, promised to run a shuttle system to make it easier for shoppers to use nearby Marta stations, and earmarked 25 percent of the space above the planned commercial buildings for either offices or apartments.
But Sembler just barely got past the ARC. In its approval letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin, the ARC criticizes Sembler for devoting only 1.5 acres out of 42 to greenspace. What’s more, the commission complained that loading docks are too close to neighbors’ homes. The ARC also worries that failing to implement a traffic plan, like speed humps and narrowing streets (which the developer has mentioned but not officially presented to the ARC) “would cause unnecessary and detrimental impacts on the quality of life for the impacted communities.”
And the neighbors still aren’t happy. After months of negotiations to add more greenspace and to make the project more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, Organized Neighbors of Edgewood President Paul Thompson and Fuqua weren’t able to reach an agreement on the specifics.
Despite a room of angry homeowners calling for Sembler to set aside 15 percent of the property for greenspace, Fuqua didn’t budge, saying Monday that the site plan couldn’t contain more greenspace and still make money.
Said Thompson: “Until you are a resident up against these multi-million-dollar companies, you never realize what it must have been like for David to look up at Goliath.”
On Tuesday night, the Neighborhood Planning Unit that includes the Moreland Avenue property will vote to either support or oppose the development. The NPU is expected to side with the Organized Neighbors of Edgewood. Next week, yet another NPU — this one comprising Candler and Inman parks, Little Five Points, Reynoldstown, and Poncey-Highlands — will vote on the project. Then the city’s Zoning Review Board will take the neighborhood votes and the ARC’s recommendations into consideration and make its determination.
If the board doesn’t like the project, it can force Sembler to accept certain conditions, such as more greenspace, or face rejection of the rezoning application. Such a denial could force Sembler to build the strip-mall-style development as the property’s current zoning demands.
Click on atlanta.creativeloafing.com for updates on the neighborhood and Zoning Review Board votes.