Red Shirts On The Move To Challenge Roswell Zoning "Crisis"

Red-shirted residents have become a staple presence at neighborhood zoning hearings throughout metro Atlanta.

One of the largest of these yet took place in Roswell Sept. 10. The Roswell Community Development department convened the first of three rezoning meetings, looking into the somber and intense faces of more than 225 residents who gathered to express concern, frustration and anger over a rezoning proposal for a 113-unit subdivision to go up in the middle one of Roswell’s most attractive and livable neighborhoods. If approved by the city, the new development will replace nine single-family homes on 21 acres at Hembree and Chaffin Roads, with mainly townhouses and small cottage homes. The new zoning would set aside the current zoning of one home per 30,000 square feet - about 1.5 homes per acre - and allow more than 5 per acre instead.

The proposal was made possible by changes in Roswell’s zoning code with the adoption of the UDC (Unified Development Code) that was voted in by the City Council in 2014. It has ignited a strong firestorm among residents who believe that high-density housing in established neighborhoods with no capacity to expand infrastructure to support that level of runaway growth threatens to alter the character, quality, and value of all of Roswell’s neighborhoods.

For nearly three hours, the developers and city officials were peppered with questions and comments as one after another of the residents expressed alarm about what effect the new development would have on schools, roads, emergency services, and property values.

“This is a critical decision for the city,” said Kristin Boyle, a resident who lives in the area of the proposed subdivision. “Many of the older subdivisions in Roswell have tracts of homes that could be bought up and used for much higher-density development. If zoning density variances are granted by the Roswell city council, the area might not be able to support those developments. And that’s what’s happening here,” she added.

“In other words,” another hearing attendant said, “the city council will be responsible for allowing higher density by going against the current code.”

Some residents were quick to point out that three City Council seats will be decided in local elections Nov. 3, that the two incumbents running voted yes for UDC, and it was this vote that makes projects like this rezoning possible. Residents promised to make their votes count.

Register to vote online at http://www.fultoncountyga.gov/rae-home through Oct. 5.

The next meeting on the rezoning request will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 20 at City Hall.