Downtown Atlanta Master Plan proposes dramatic overhaul of city’s core

September 14,2017

Source: Collin Kelley, Atlanta INTown Paper

A draft of the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan was unveiled during a public meeting at the Atlanta Central Library on Sept. 13.

In the works for more than a year, the master plan was created with the help of residents and businesspeople during a series of open houses. The new plan presents 25 recommendations for the future, ranging from creating new greenspace and public art to shifting one-way streets back to two-way streets and building more affordable housing in the heart of the city.

Getting to this draft of the plan wasn’t easy, according to Central Atlanta Progress President A.J. Robinson. “The last six months have been the most explosive growth we’ve seen in decades,” he said. “The plan kept changing to keep up with the announcement of new projects.”

Department of City Planning Commissioner Tim Keane said growth in the city was ramping up significantly after being stagnant for years.

“Over the last six years, the city has added 50,000 people,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of adding a town the size of Dunwoody or Smyrna in just six years. That kind of growth hasn’t happened in a generation.”

Keane said invigorating and reimagining the Downtown core was the lynchpin of the city’s continued growth, especially as 2.5 million people are expected to flock to metro Atlanta in the next 25 years.

More specifically, Downtown is expected to add 36,000 jobs and 12,000 new residents by 2030.

“We have to create a public realm that people care about and cherish,” Keane said of Downtown.

Read the complete article at the link above.