Piedmont Heights Blueprints for Successful Communities Spring 2007
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Piedmont Heights Blueprints for Successful Communities Spring 2007 Georgia Conservancy -- Blueprints Partners 2007 American Institute of Architects- Atlanta American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia American Society of Landscape Architects, Georgia Chapter Association County Commissioners of Georgia Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership Institute of Transportation Engineers Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Architecture Georgia Municipal Association Georgia Planning Association Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Southface Energy Institute Urban Land Institute- Atlanta District Council Funding Provided By: Piedmont Heights Civic Association Through the generosity of its member residents and businesses and The Antinori Foundation Building a Foundation for Blueprints Campaign Blueprints Community Investors Blueprints Community Friends The Rich Foundation The Livingston Foundation Sara Jackson Hertwig Richport Properties Blueprints Community Advocates Blueprints Community Supporters AGL Resources Atlanta Regional Commission J. W. and Ethel I. Woodruff Foundation Ed Ellis Florence C. & Harry L. English Memorial Fund Georgia Department of Community Affairs John and Mary Franklin Foundation Growth Management Leadership Alliance Synovus Stephen H. Macauley UPS Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Miller Brewing Company The Pacific Group Serenbe TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 2 The Blueprints Process 3 Comprehensive Vision 5 Comprehensive Greenspace Vision 8 Major Themes and Policy Considerations 10 Piedmont Heights In Context 12 Neighborhood Boundaries 13 Neighborhood History 13 Existing Conditions 14 Susceptibility to Change 18 Ansley Mall Vision 20 Existing Conditions 20 Short Term Vision 20 Long Term Vision 23 Monroe Crescent Vision 26 Existing Conditions 26 Short Term Vision 27 Long Term Vision 31 Armour – Ottley Vision 34 Existing Conditions 34 Short Term Vision 37 Long Term Vision 42 Implementation Checklist 45 Appendix A: 57 Community Design Workshops Appendix B: 58 Assets and Challenges Participants 60 Piedmont Heights (in yellow) within the context of the larger study area and surrounding neighborhoods BLUEPRINTS PIEDMONT HEIGHTS – 2007 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and haphazard construction may negatively • The Blueprints Process impact what quality of life the neighborhood • Comprehensive Vision wishes to preserve, while thoughtful, guided • Comprehensive Greenspace Vision development may prove to be a boon. • Major Themes & Policy Considerations To assist Piedmont Heights in creating a Between January and May 2007, The balanced and consensus-driven vision for Georgia Conservancy and a Georgia Tech their future during this period of change, architecture and city planning studio worked PHCA and the Georgia Conservancy with the Piedmont Heights Civic Association, partnered with the city and regional planning neighborhood stakeholders, and abutting and architecture program at the Georgia neighborhood associations to create a Institute of Technology to create a Blueprint Blueprint for quality growth. Although small in for positive change. Led by professor size, Piedmont Heights is confronting many Michael Dobbins, 17 graduate students were of the same opportunities and challenges involved in the spring 2007 urban design faced by the City of Atlanta as a whole. This studio focusing on Piedmont Heights. Blueprints for Successful Communities planning program was undertaken to ensure The goal of this Blueprints process was to that Piedmont Heights is guided by quality comprehensively evaluate the challenges growth principles, holistic planning, and facing Piedmont Heights and devise strong community involvement. alternative solutions to identify the best courses of action for the community, both As is often the case with neighborhoods that near term and in the future. The following approach the Georgia Conservancy to document contains the results and conduct a Blueprints planning process, there recommendations of the Blueprints Piedmont is the recognition of neighborhood change Heights process. and an understanding of the instigator of that change. Anticipating BeltLine master The Blueprints Process planning initiatives, the Piedmont Heights The Georgia Conservancy’s Blueprints for Civic Association (PHCA) contacted the Successful Communities planning process Georgia Conservancy for assistance as the included four neighborhood meetings which neighborhood prepared to develop a were designed to frame the issues of Request for Proposals (RFP) for a concern for the community both in the short neighborhood master plan. and long term. See Appendix A for the Blueprints Piedmont Heights timeline. These Piedmont Heights is an intown neighborhood meetings provided the forum for community located halfway between bustling Downtown members to articulate their concerns, Atlanta and Buckhead. As intown living has priorities, assets, and challenges to the become more popular due to proximity of Georgia Tech students. See Appendix B for employment centers, vibrant arts and cultural a complete list of assets and challenges. activities, and reduced traffic woes, many close-in Atlanta neighborhoods are The planning studio utilized three points of experiencing redevelopment pressure. The analysis to understand the issues affecting recently passed BeltLine Tax Allocation Piedmont Heights: 1) topic areas; 2) space; District has increased these redevelopment 3) and time. Topic areas included a pressures on neighborhoods such as documentation of existing conditions in terms Piedmont Heights. of demographics, the natural environment, the built environment, and transportation. The quickened pace of potential change in Spatially, the neighborhood was examined the Piedmont Heights neighborhood poses both as a whole, and as three distinct sub- both threats and opportunities. Premature areas. Finally, the students developed a BLUEPRINTS PIEDMONT HEIGHTS – 2007 3 short-term and long-term implementation and identified short and long term visions, plan with accompanying resources. recommended solutions, and implementation plans that reflect the character and needs of The demographic profile for Piedmont each subarea. Heights shows a neighborhood that has undergone steady population growth. It is This Blueprints report is a distillation of the highly educated, relatively wealthy, and work produced by the students in the largely employed. In addition, it is becoming Georgia Tech studio. In some cases the increasingly diverse. It contains a large students explored more alternative solutions number of jobs, shopping amenities, and a than were included in the final report, in other variety of housing options available to a wide cases additional explanatory information range of income levels. accompanied the text. The student report in its entirety is housed both with the PHCA Transportation is an overarching concern for and at the Georgia Conservancy. Piedmont Heights. It is bordered by two main arterial roads – Monroe Drive and Piedmont Avenue. It has immediate freeway access to I-85, two MARTA bus routes, and is intersected by three rail lines. The future potential for alternative transit developments is crucial for the neighborhood. Opportunities include a multi-modal station, the BeltLine, and possible commuter rail lines. In addition, the neighborhood has an opportunity to increase its pedestrian connectivity through improved sidewalk accessibility and new bike/pedestrian paths. In addition to transportation, there are many greenspace challenges and opportunities in Piedmont Heights. Clear Creek and Peachtree Creek frame the neighborhood. Piedmont Park is expanding to the southern edge of the neighborhood, and the BeltLine trails system will run along the western edge. Although current plans are underway to provide resident access and protection of existing greenspace, there are significant opportunities to improve the connectivity of the existing and future greenspace network. The Piedmont Heights neighborhood is defined by three geographic areas deemed susceptible to change: Ansley Mall, Monroe Crescent, and Armour-Ottley. A number of public policy issues are paramount to the future of Piedmont Heights, including concerns around land use and zoning, transportation, the natural environment, economic development, and affordable housing. The studio examined each sub-area BLUEPRINTS PIEDMONT HEIGHTS – 2007 4 Comprehensive Vision The long term redevelopment vision for The comprehensive vision lays out the Monroe Crescent is to have two redevelopment strategy over the short (3 – concentrated areas of development, one 10 years) and long term (> 10 years). Here, residential/retail and the other office. The these redevelopment strategies are long term vision for transportation includes combined on single maps, one short term significant changes to the access and exit and one long term, to show how various ramps to and from Buford Highway, as well enhancements taken incrementally can as intersection improvements at Piedmont begin to make the neighborhood more Circle, Piedmont Avenue, and Cheshire cohesive, maximizing the benefits of Bridge Road. redevelopment while minimizing potential negative outcomes. In each map, realistic The Armour-Ottley subarea’s short-term opportunities for redevelopment are shown, vision calls for increasing pedestrian and along with the multi-modal infrastructure vehicular connectivity to and within the sub- improvements necessary to support them. area,