The Limits of Density Without BeltLine Rail

There may be a limit to the level of density intown Atlanta residents are willing to tolerate without the promise of mass transportation. That's one takeaway from Neighborhood Planning Unit F's 282-84 vote Wednesday evening denying zoning and land use changes for the Amsterdam Walk redevelopment project.

The other is that the Amsterdam Walk developer, Portman Holdings, finds itself tied in knots. It wants to build nearly 250,000 square feet of retail and office space on the site, 840 apartments, and a 1,400-space parking deck off congested Monroe Drive

Yet Portman has actively lobbied against BeltLine light rail and is a founding member of Better Atlanta Transit (BAT), an interest group lobbying city officials to squash Streetcar East Extension (SCE), the first leg of the BeltLine rail project, and look at scooters, bikes, and autonomous vehicles instead.

"I’m opposed, pure and simple, because I don’t believe we should be increasing density in already congested areas without the transportation infrastructure we were promised,” said 26-year Virginia-Highland resident Kay Stephenson, who spoke at the NPU-F meeting.

Said Mark Arnold, a Virginia-Highland architect: “I don’t think any of the new projects that are increasing density under the guise of the Beltline overlay district should be allowed to continue forward unless there’s a firm and real commitment to the transit component."

And therein lies the rub. Portman benefits from tax breaks and zoning changes put into effect along BeltLine adjacent neighborhoods to accommodate transit oriented density. Yet now that Portman owns "beachfront property," and the building of light rail is about to begin, it doesn't want the transit that is the reason for its being able to develop the property this way in the first place. Wow!

“I know that this subject is near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts and my public position on how I feel about the light rail on the Beltline has become intertwined with this rezoning request,” Mike Greene, Portman's Senior Vice President of Development, told a Morningside-Lenox Park Neighborhood Association meeting audience Monday night. “I would ask if you could possibly separate your feelings on the two subjects.”

Too late, Mike. The piece Portman is missing is that density along the BeltLine is made possible by the promise of BeltLine light rail. Mass transit moves the thousands of people a day that will be required of the BeltLine as people continue to stream into Atlanta, now the country's sixth largest metro whose city core grew by 12 percent over the last year. The BeltLine is an equity-creating citywide project, and the mass transit light rail element of it is the key to extending its promise and opportunity to all.

Certainly, Amsterdam Walk won't be the last dense project built along the BeltLine. How will Murphy Crossing in Southwest Atlanta interact, when complete, with nearby residents and folks all over intown Atlanta if light rail isn't built? 

And what of Grove Park off Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway where a Microsoft campus is on hold? What are the odds Microsoft resumes its Grove Park campus if the promise of light rail goes away? Access to all the new opportunities these developments are creating means connecting them to people everywhere so that the opportunity reaches those near and far away who would work, live, play, or shop there. 

“Transit on the Beltline is the linchpin that makes it work," Stephenson said. "I just don’t see any way for the Amsterdam Walk development to work if everybody is coming and going from it in a car.”

Amsterdam Walk is the tip of the iceberg. More is coming. And we need BeltLine light rail to make it work.......for everyone.

If you agree, email the Atlanta City Council to expedite the construction of BeltLine Light Rail to support the dense projects the BeltLine needs.