2.1. SR 02-19-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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limitation on the land zoned for commercial or office use. As a matter of land use policy, office zoning is limited to the area inside the Commerce Drive loop around the downtown section. At the entrances to Decatur from unincor- porated DeKalb County on major thorough- fares like Clairemont Avenue or Scott Boule- vard, development changes from strip commercial to residential. In what can be seen as a modern planning and zoning mir- acle, the Scott/Clairemont intersection, with about 25,000 cars per day traveling on both streets, does not have a single gas station. As a defensive measure, about 20 years ago gas stations were removed from the zoning code as a permitted use in any zoning district .in Decatur. Also about 20 years ago, the city commis- sion decided that some older residential areas with small single-family houses that were not being well maintained should be encouraged to redevelop as high-density single-family houses--as townhomes or cluster housing. Large tracts of these single-family houses were rezoned, and land was made available for this type of development. Many of those areas have come back strong as single-family neighborhoods, and in the past five years the high-density single-family zoning has been re- moved from three major neighborhoods. Work now being done on the future land use plan is focusing on how much more of this high-density zoning should be reversed. Church Street in Decatur was recently widened to improve access from the interstate system to downtown Decatur. Before the wid- erring, this street was primarily residential. Pressure is now predictably on for strip com- mercial zoning along this four-lane thorough- fare. The first rezoning application has been successfully denied, and the city commission is pledged to maintaining the residential char- acter of this street. A local government that cares to influence what happens in its community still has a powerful tool to use in its zoning powers. Doom and gloom planners and the lawyers for developers will try to convince you that the courts have stripped local governments of any real authority in this area. What the courts have really done is to pin us down so that we cannot be arbitrary and capricious. If we do our homework, do our research, and prepare our cases to demonstrate the reasons for our decisions, we still can use zoning pow- ers effectively. Another important factor affecting the availability of land is the development of in- frastructure. Development is encouraged by the availability of good roads and adequate water and sewer service and, conversely, is discouraged by the lack of these items. These are powerful tools to decide what land gets developed, and local government policy can determine how they are used. Adequate Infrastructure Anyone who reads in thc newspapers about water shortages and sewer tap moratoriums is familiar with the importance of these utilities. The primary tool used in the selective growth strategy in Decatur has been developing or not developing transportation facilities. The Commerce Drive loop around downtown De- catur, completed in 1973, has caused most major development in the past 10 years to fo- cus on this street. Tying this into the inter- state system with the Church Street widening should give more impetus to this area where development is seen as being desirable. On the other hand, Decatur has vigorously fought the construction of another east-west thoroughfare through the city for 25 years. Such a thoroughfare parallel to the railroad corridor along the southern edge of downtown would open up the southern part of the down- town area to significant redevelopment. The powers that be will never support such a project, however, until they are convinced that its impact on residential neighborhoods really would be minimal. Attractive Development and Business Environment Evcryonc, including hard-nosed developers, wants to be wanted. A key to business reten- tion is to let existing businesses know how much they are appreciated. A key to attract- ing development is to let developers know they are welcome. One problem is that there is a lot of money to be made in development and it is often lo- cal government decisions that determine just how much profit is made. Developers tend to be politically active and contribute to politi- cal campaigns. They usually have their pro- gram together and have the resources and ac- ce,ss to sell it. Selective development calls for finding the fine line between making develop- ers feel welcome and letting them do what they please. In my experience, most develop- ers feel welcome only if they are allowed to do what they please. Recent newspaper articles have focused on problems caused by builders' pits in Gwinnett County and northern Fulton County. Builders in these areas have been allowed to bury or- ganic material from the construction site on the site of the development. This material is Playing the growth/no- growth game is like playing Russian roulette.