I live in Reynoldstown. My neighbors would tell you that they are in favor of density, but that it should be on Memorial and Moreland, where the roads can handle the traffic. They don't want buildings this size being built on the Beltline, dividing a cohesive low-density residential neighborhood and bringing significant car traffic to its narrow one-lane streets.
I understand their concerns but I don't agree with them. I don't dare say this publicly, because I've seen how some of them talk in private about people who do. I also don't see the point because I don't think their protest is going to have any effect. The
Beltline master plan for this subarea, approved in 2011, calls out six story buildings as appropriate for this section of the Beltline. It highlights this exact parcel for a six-story building. So I think it's pointless to argue against that level of density. They should've known it was coming, and instead focused on convincing the developer to do things they care about
: build the Trolley line PATH trail segment that's planned to run next to the building. Build out some useful community-oriented retail along the Beltline side. Maybe some public greenspace. But instead, they focused all their venom on the height of the building and parking, and so the concessions they got were a few corners of the height shaved off, and some on-street parking added within the private owner's land (off the public right of way). Those are crap concessions, but now the builder can show them to the city as evidence that they tried.
Fighting density on the Beltline and using traffic or parking as a supporting argument is a losing battle, especially for a building that's about a block from a future streetcar stop at Memorial Drive. Atlanta wants to be a city of 1 million plus. Reynoldstown is lucky to have the Beltline in the middle of our neighborhood. We should be prepared for our neighborhood to change, and to gain some new neighbors. One thing that's gotten lost in the debate is that 15% of units will be affordable, which is something we've been asking every developer for and been getting it from too few. We could have asked for even more if we hadn't been fighting over the height of the building.
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Originally Posted by Ant131531
Strange to me how Reynoldstown seems to have become the poster child for NIMBYism in Atlanta. It always seems like it's this neighborhood that is pushing back on any high density apartment development.
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To push back on this specific point; Reynoldstown has actually done just the opposite; encouraging developers like Jeff Fuqua to build
more density than plans originally called for on properties along Moreland and Memorial Drive. RCIL has also voted to support dense townhouse developments for two vacant corners along Moreland at Hardee and Kirkwood that haven't gotten talked about much. I think they're just hesitant to see the character of the Beltline change. I love Reynoldstown but I think the neighborhood just picked the wrong battle this time.
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