Business development can be a real challenge when it comes to dealing with land use issues and zoning regulations. Depending on the applicable zoning laws citywide development plans, the type of development proposed, and the way in which a proposal is received by neighboring property owners, developers can sometimes face real difficult in moving a project forward, at least in the way they would like to.
In some cases, of course, a development proposal may not fundamentally conflict with the wishes of nearby property owners, but may only require tweaking. That seems to be what has happened, for instance, with a current proposal to construct a convenience store near the proposed site for Westside Reservoir Park, which was formerly Bellwood Quarry.
The site is part of what is called the Beltline Overlay District, which runs a half mail on both sides of the Beltline corridor, through 45 neighborhoods. One of them is Howell Station, a residential neighborhood adjacent to an area that has historically been primarily industrial but which is undergoing changes. While the area is currently zoned as light industrial, 12 acres are owned by City of Atlanta Watershed Management and 19-acres are owned by a commercial gravel and paving company which is interested in selling and potentially rezoning for mixed use.
One of the concerns neighboring property owners had expressed about the proposal for the convenience store was that it would violate Beltline Overlay District Guidelines. In an upcoming post, we’ll look a bit at how this issue was resolved and why it can be important to work with an experienced attorney when dealing with development disputes.