264 PONCE DE LEON AVENUE

Capital City Real Estate, a Washington DC based development firm, is proposing a mixed-use development on the 1.25 acre site located on Ponce de Leon Avenue between Penn Avenue and Argonne Avenue (264 Ponce de Leon Avenue.)

MNA’s Land Use Committee was contacted by the development team prior to their submission for rezoning.  The development team wanted to discuss their intentions and how it related to our residential needs and expectations.  MNA directed the team to our Midtown Garden District Master Plan to ensure that their initial concept aligned with our formally adopted plan for our community.  In both April and May 2019, MNA’s LUC met with the development team for an early informational session during our regularly scheduled monthly public meetings.

The applicant filed on June 4, 2019 for a zoning change from C-2 to MRC-3.  The first formal review of the application took place at the monthly MNA LUC June meeting.  Neighboring properties were notified and encouraged to attend to share their feedback on the project.  Neighboring residents, the MNA Land Use Committee and the development team met for a productive discussion of the project.  After a presentation and Q&A session with the LUC members and wider community, the developer agreed that a deferral was necessary to further investigate conditions requested by the MNA LUC.

MNA requested the development team revisit the following for further discussion:

1. the inclusion of a transitional height plane on the northeast corner as they are required to implement for the northwest corner;
2. ingress and egress for vehicular traffic in addition to truck loading/unloading and waste management services;
3. the public use of the parking deck to absorb the displacement of some of the existing public parking;
4. the maximum height of the building (separate from and in addition to maximum floors);
5. the activation and interaction of the northern side of the project with the neighboring properties;
6. the legal ability to use / increase volume of an alleyway;
7. the ability to work with GDOT to address safe passage across Ponce and an evaluation of light timing including the possible need for a traffic light at Penn Avenue

The list above addressed MNA’s immediate concerns with the project as they pertain to the evaluation of a zoning change application.

We believe as residents of Midtown, we have a right to engage and comment on the development that shapes and affects our community.  The City of Atlanta has a formal process by which developers are required to present and discuss their plans with residents in the NPU of their project.  This project is in NPU-E / Midtown.  MNA is the designated representative for Midtown to NPU-E.  Our Land Use Committee is charged with reviewing all zoning, variance and special exception/use permits for NPU-E.  The MNA LUC makes a recommendation to the MNA Board of Directors who then vote and submit the formal report to NPU-E.  NPU-E discusses MNA’s recommendation and hears additional input from residents at their regularly held monthly meetings.  NPU-E votes on their position and this final report is submitted to the City for review during the zoning hearings.

As a resident who would like to make a comment or voice a concern, you have three options:

ATTEND THE COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE

Thank you to all those that took time to participate in this great opportunity to share your perspective with the MNA LUC and also directly with the project developer.  On August 7th from 6-8 PM, the community, MNA LUC and the project development team engaged in productive discussion about valuable project amendments at Grace United’s Fellowship Hall.

PARTICIPATE IN MONTHLY MNA PROCESS

You can attend MNA LUC meetings or email the Land Use Committee Chairman with questions and concerns.

APPEAR AT THE NPU-E MEETING

NPU-E meetings are open.  You may ask the Chairman of NPU-E to be heard during the discussion of the application.

EMAIL OUR COUNCILMEN

You are always able to reach out directly to our councilmen:

District 2:    Amir Farokhi (project resides in District 2)

District 6:    Jennifer Ide

WRITE AN IMPACT STATEMENT

An impact statement can be written to support a project or used to voice specific concerns.  If you would like to submit an impact statement, we encourage you to share your statement with MNA’s Land Use Committee, NPU-E Chairman Nabil Hammam, and our Councilman Amir Farokhi.

Capital City Real Estate appeared at the August MNA LUC meeting, the August MNA Board meeting, and the September NPU-E meeting.

The MNA Land Use Committee held their regularly scheduled August meeting on 8/20/19.  During this time, the Capital City Real Estate team presented their final update to the proposed project.  MNA LUC voted to not oppose the application with conditions.  The full list of conditions were reviewed aloud and the development team, along with their legal counsel, verbally agreed to the conditions.  The recommendation was sent to the MNA Board of Directors for their review and final vote on August 29, 2019.  MNA’s Board of Directors voted to uphold the recommendation of the MNA LUC and voted to not oppose with conditions with two amendments to the Traffic Management condition to specify a request for a traffic light and crosswalk at Penn Avenue and Ponce de Leon Avenue.

MNA’s recommendation was heard at the September 2nd NPU-E meeting.  At this time, the NPU-E Board Members heard statements from residents and asked questions of the applicant before casting a vote on the application for final submission to the City of Atlanta.  NPU-E voted to not oppose the application with conditions.  The full recommendation with conditions was submitted to the City of Atlanta and can be read by clicking below.

In October, Capital City Real Estate withdrew their zoning change application.

The documents below reflect the current project plan as presented at the MNA Land Use Committee meeting on August 20, 2019.

During the MNA Land Use Committee meetings, residents expressed a series of concerns with the initial proposed design which are outlined above.  The MNA Land Use Committee received numerous impact letters and those concerns were actively discussed as the Committee responded to the applicant.  The development team studied the concerns and requests for modifications and revised their proposed plan.  The documents below reflect the design plan presented at the Community Open House on August 7, 2019.