Neighborhood Planning Unit-W, which represents the interests of several southeast Atlanta communties, including Grant Park, Ormewood Park and East Atlanta, opposes the planned retail project at 800 Glenwood Ave., which aims to bring 199,050 square feet of retail — including an anchor tenant that would take 155,000 square feet — to Grant Park.

NPU-W, which is seeking the support of its sister NPUs across the city, says Fuqua Development's Glenwood Place project contradicts and violates development guidelines outlined in the Atlanta BeltLine Masterplan.

NPU-W's push joins that of some residents in Ormewood Park, Grant Park and Glenwood Park who are pushing an online petition urging the city to block the project.

Edward Gilgor, NPU-W's chairman and East Atlanta resident, shared the letter of support request to the other NPUs as well as the letter sent to the City of Atlanta Office of Planning with East Atlanta Patch:

NPU-W is seeking the support for its opposition to SAP Application No. BL-12-035, in which Fuqua Development is attempting to foist a cookie cutter suburban model on an urban neighborhood in direct contravention of the BeltLine Masterplan as well as the BeltLine Overlay District regulations.

NPU-W encourages all NPUs to review NPU-W's comments on this application, and if they are so inclined, to convey their support for NPU-W's position to the Office of Planning (cjacks@atlantaga.gov) as well as the City Council (*CityCouncilMembers@AtlantaGa.Gov) and its staff (*CityCouncilStaff@AtlantaGa.Gov).

I appreciate all who take the time and effort to consider NPU-W's request.
Thank you.

NPU-W's response to the application, as well as the application itself and various supporting documents, can be found at: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BzhPwP7Vp7L6YTFkYzljY3VPTUk/edit

Below, I have excerpted the conclusion from NPU-W's Response:

NPU-W opposes the plan as presented in the Special Administrative Permit Application. As demonstrated in more detail above, the plan fails, in many particulars, to account for the application of the BeltLine Overlay or for the Subarea 4 Master Plan for the BeltLine as adopted by the Council in 2011.

The specific requests sought by the application do not comport with existing limitations. The proposal seems conveniently to ignore zoning restrictions when it interferes with the goal of the project. There is no request to exceed the number of curb cuts along Glenwood when the application seeks to exceed the width of allowed curb cuts. The proposal indicates the inclusion of only 2.5” caliper street side trees when zoning clearly requires 3” caliper trees. Furthermore, the application seeks to install and allow street side loading and unloading (citing Ordinance Section 16.28.015), while ignoring the directly applicable section of the BeltLine Overlay, 16-36.016.2. This kind of aggressive ignorance is indicative not of an enlightened view of new urbanism, but rather a rather common and pervasive view of old-style suburbanism.

The introduction of this purely retail focused plan does not further the goals of the BeltLine to provide residential focus in areas designated as BeltLine stops. It is also contrary to the developer’s own statements that its “concepts incorporate characteristics of ‘live, work, play’ into communities and integrate urban lifestyles with shopping center environments.” Nothing about the proposal integrates this retail development into the existing community nor does it provide a means of integrating new residential into the retail development.

More fundamentally, the proposal fails in nearly every way to comply with the goals and ideals adopted by Council in committing to the construction of the Atlanta BeltLine and Council’s bold vision of connecting and revitalizing Atlanta. Instead, the proposal seeks to wedge a typically suburban big box store into historic neighborhoods and communities that have strived for true intersection of the live, work play ideal represented by new urbanism. NPU-W urges the Office of Planning to exercise its discretion and deny the application as it had been submitted. Should the applicant decide to submit an application that does meet with the BeltLine Overlay and the Subarea 4 Master Plan, then it will find the surrounding communities, as well as this NPU, to be active partners and supporters in its endeavor.

NPU-W thanks the Office of Planning for taking the time to review this application.

— Edward Gilgor,

Chairman, NPU-W

See also:

Online Petition To Stop Glenwood Place Project in Grant Park

Walmart: Do You Love Them or Hate Them?

Major Retail Planned at Glenwood