Mayors Demand Better Transit, Greener Planning

A trio of metro Atlanta leaders say building and living will be different after the Great Recession. Population will get denser from Atlanta to Marietta to Stone Mountain. Buildings will become greener and serve more uses.

But for urban planning to be done right, the metro area and its homes and jobs must be better connected via road and transit.

Such are the thoughts of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis and Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin, who discussed land use and development during a forum Thursday night at the  in Midtown.

In fact, private equity is already coming off the sidelines to join the development game in Atlanta, per Reed, who said he's had multiple meetings with several firms in the last two months. Reed said a redevelopment deal is close for the old City Hall East and that he thinks "we can go forward with building a new stadium" to replace the Georgia Dome.  

Yet, "I don't think we'll see any major vertical construction" in the next 12 to 24 months, he added.

But whatever happens, it's got to be more sustainable, Reed said, meaning builds that can be maintained with the least negative impact on the environment, yet come at a cost that's affordable.

Marietta Mayor Tumlin agreed that his city's development will be different after the downturn -- it will become more dense.

"As people move to Marietta, they'll live differently," Tumlin said. 

For one, there will be more mixed developments where "we can have quality of life, live, work, play kind of situations." Marietta already has six such developments with a seventh underway, by the mayor's count.

Smaller lots may be the new normal for single family Marietta houses, but lower prices are already confirmed. At least one builder, at Rockford Township, is getting back to work via $300,000 to $400,000 homes rather than an earlier plan for $500,000 and up. Such work means the city is issuing more permits than it has in a while, Tumlin said.

DeKalb County CEO Ellis said he's still waiting for financial markets to free up financing. He pointed out that DeKalb has less commercial development than Atlanta and he'd like to see that change, especially with clean industry.

As for housing, "Aging in place options are important for us in DeKalb County."

And so is something all three leaders agreed on -- transit options like MARTA.

Tumlin hesitated a bit on the notion of MARTA rail for Marietta, calling it a "possibility" in Marietta Square. He emphasized instead some transportation studies underway to unclog U.S. Route 41 and to connect to other parts of Cobb.  

Ellis was more emphatic:

MARTA needs to be "further expanded … It makes sense that as a thriving metropolitan area we need a thriving transit system."

Reed, whose city is relatively better served by MARTA is thinking about high speed trains and "connectivity to the East Coast."

A metro area vote for new road, rail, bridge and transit money will appear on the 2012 ballot, as early as the presidential primaries. It will ask voters in the 10-county Atlanta area to vote themselves an extra penny sales tax for the next ten years, all of it to be spent on transportation.

Reed is a strong supporter. "That's exactly what we need to power our way out of this awful time," he said. 

"That's $800 million per year, spent every single year across the 10 county region for ten years."

The forum was organized by the Washington, D.C- based Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit that studies land use difficulties, works on solutions and supports "responsible" development.