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MAY 2007
Georgia Tech GIS study reveals available land
Peachtree: Home for everyone?
SouthStar CDC, partners breathe life into
Moreland Avenue Corridor
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Audrey Jordan
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Assembling the tools
for dense development
Georgia Tech GIS study to reveal available land
According to Census Bureau projections, metro Atlanta will likely
have 2.3 million new residents by the year 2030. What is far less
clear is whether or not the region will be able to accommodate such
an influx.
Currently, Atlanta is the least densely populated of the top 15
urbanized areas, with 2.8 people per acre- compared to 6.1 in
Chicago, 8.3 in New York, and 9.6 in San Francisco. If Atlanta plans
to welcome more than two million new residents, much consideration
will need to be given to dense development as well as zoning
policies that currently act as a barrier to such development.
If left unattended, historic patterns of low density and sprawling
development will continue to have adverse affects on residents,
local government, and the environment. The impact of such poor
planning is often higher housing prices, traffic congestion, and a
decrease in green space. High density development that wisely
maximizes Atlanta’s available land is the answer.
Unfortunately, identifying land available for development or
redevelopment has historically been a challenge for developers and
housing advocacy organizations. But thanks to a new report and a new
website, gaining access to available land data is just about to get
much easier.
This summer, the newly created Regional Housing Resource Center (RHRC)
will unveil a website that will offer a wide variety of data sets
and resource tools to aid in the creation of dense mixed income
developments for the Atlanta region. One of the data sets will
include information from Metropolitan Atlanta Land Study, recently
conducted by the GIS Center at Georgia Tech. For the first time,
land available for development in twenty-three job centers within
DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton and Fulton counties has been
electronically mapped and will be available for review by those
interested in mixed income communities and affordable housing.
In addition to the total acres of undeveloped and potentially
redevelopment land, this new data includes an estimate of the number
of affordable housing units needed for each area based on the
employment demand of the locale. For example, the Midtown job center
has a housing deficit of roughly 30,000 units. It was identified in
the study that there is close to 400 acres of undeveloped land in
that job center; if all acres were developed for housing, the number
of affordable housing units needed is 82 units per acre.
Values such as ‘density needed,’ give housing advocates and
developers a method to gauge the type and scale of developments
needed to meet housing demands in any of the job centers.
Once the electronic maps are posted onto the Resource Center, the
information from the study will provide developers with accurate and
current information needed to correctly assess the amount of land
available for development. The study takes market trends,
transportation, and job centers into consideration which is
imperative in deriving the proper method to address the density and
sprawl issues. It is through the use of such data that adequate
housing could be created to address the deficits without the need
for further sprawl.
The study not only provides housing developers with real time data
and information, it also demonstrates the feasibility and the return
in developing mixed income communities – a largely untapped
development strategy. Conversely, the ongoing reporting will provide
housing advocates the data needed to evaluate development
strategies.
A prime example of the types of information needed in the Atlanta
area in order to address the lack of affordable housing, the study’s
accessibility guarantees that those interested in affordable housing
in Atlanta are able to reach pertinent data.
ANDP External Affairs Intern Ashley Dean contributed to this
article.
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