How Multifamily Housing Gets Approved in Atlanta

Atlanta decides multifamily approvals under Part 16 of the City Code, the zoning ordinance. A rezoning moves through Neighborhood Planning Unit review, the Zoning Review Board and the City Council, while the BeltLine Overlay District's inclusionary program and the Special Administrative Permit shape most multifamily projects.

Base zoning and the rezoning process

A rezoning follows a Neighborhood Planning Unit review, which recommends but does not decide, a Zoning Review Board public hearing and recommendation, and a City Council vote. Georgia's Zoning Procedures Law sets the published notice and hearing a local government owes before any zoning decision (O.C.G.A. 36-66-4), and, as amended in 2022, defines the quasi-judicial zoning powers a board such as Atlanta's exercises, effective 1 July 2022.

The Special Administrative Permit

A Special Administrative Permit (SAP) is required before a building permit application in the districts most relevant to multifamily:

• Special Public Interest (SPI) districts
• BeltLine (BL)
• Live-Work (LW)
• Multi-Family Residential (MR)
• Mixed Residential Commercial (MRC)
• Neighborhood Commercial (NC)
• Industrial Mixed Use (I-Mix)
• Unified Development Plans (UDP)

The Office of Zoning and Development decides the SAP for compliance with the applicable district regulations, with a Development/Design Review Committee and the Neighborhood Planning Unit providing advisory input; the decision does not go to a City Council vote.

The BeltLine Overlay inclusionary program

Ordinance 17-O-1542, codified at City Code 16-36A.001 et seq., took effect 29 January 2018. It applies to a new multifamily rental development of 10 or more units within the BeltLine Overlay District, about a half mile of the corridor, or the Westside Overlay District (City Code 16-37.001). A qualifying project sets aside 15 percent of units at 80 percent of area median income or 10 percent at 60 percent, or pays a fee in place of the units.

Questions

Which multifamily projects owe the BeltLine Overlay set-aside?

A new multifamily rental development of 10 or more units within the BeltLine Overlay District or the Westside Overlay District (City Code 16-36A.001, 16-37.001).

Sources