Atlanta City Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet is tapping the brakes on legislation that would make it harder to add tiny homes to residential properties, after urbanist groups warned that her proposed ordinance would hinder efforts to create affordable housing.
Overstreet introduced legislation earlier in January to require a special-use permit for homes smaller than 750 square feet in most residential communities. The goal was “to provide protection for existing single-family neighborhoods,” according to a legislative summary circulated by the city of Atlanta’s planning department.
But groups like Abundant Housing Atlanta, a nonprofit advocating for greater residential density, raised concerns that the ordinance would “add extra hurdles and months to the approval process and create more opportunities for neighborhood associations, NPUs, and the Atlanta City Council to outright block affordable homes.”
Tiny home advocates say they are an inexpensive way to add housing units to residential properties at a time when Atlanta is grappling with a severe affordable housing shortage.
In response, Overstreet told Atlanta Civic Circle, she is heading back to the drawing board. “I am currently in the process of revising and revamping [the] legislation,” she said in a statement Friday. “The valuable input from numerous constituents has played a crucial role in shaping this legislation.”
“I aim to craft legislation that not only avoids exacerbating the housing issue but also brings tangible benefits to the city,” Overstreet added. “In its current form and the forthcoming amended legislation, we will not prohibit anything, and there will be an increase in housing options.”
Still, advocates for denser intown development warn that the attempt to add the restrictive zoning measure reflects a planning philosophy among city leaders that clashes with Mayor Andre Dickens’ promise to produce and preserve 20,000 units of affordable housing by 2030.
“Frankly, that we’re creating extra barriers to build a small home, but not to build a mansion, tells us everything we need to know about who we prioritize in this city,” Alison Grady, Abundant Housing Atlanta’s co-founder, said in a Jan. 18 email blast.
Restrictive zoning laws are especially concerning to local urbanists at a time when Atlanta’s planning department is overhauling its decades-old and out-of-date zoning code. Currently, Atlanta zoning laws allow little more than conventional single-family homes on most land zoned as residential.
Atlanta City Planning Commissioner Jahnee Prince said that Overstreet’s proposal is not part of the zoning ordinance rewrite. The massive zoning overhaul, she added, is “on a little break right now, until we finish the first round of Comprehensive Development Plan meetings” in April. (The Comprehensive Development Plan, which is the guiding document for the city’s urban planning policies, is also being updated.)
Other communities embrace “gentle density”
In neighboring DeKalb County, government leaders passed legislation in December that makes it easier to develop smaller homes.
The so-called “Cottage Court Ordinance” amends DeKalb’s zoning laws “to allow for smaller homes to be built on smaller lots, sustainably increasing affordable housing stock,” according to a county press release.
DeKalb’s new policy is inspired by the success of Clarkson’s Cottages on Vaughan, a community of pint-sized houses—each between 250 and 500 square feet—built by the MicroLife Institute. It facilitates somewhat denser residential development, but within limits, DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry said in an interview Thursday.
“We’ve created the guidelines to not only protect the character of our neighborhoods but to also allow more of what we call ‘gentle density’ in some of our zoning districts,” he said.
“These [mini] cottage homes, when done in the right context and with the right sort of design, can be much more affordable for families, while also maintaining the good quality and good modern amenities you expect out of a modern home,” Terry explained.
How about actually doing something about the destruction of more affordable smaller homes and their tree canopies to be replaced by expensive McMansions?