Controversial Atlanta residential development back before council for vote
A plan for a large — and for neighbors controversial residential development in Atlanta will be back before the council for a second read.
The development, which will be near the Beltline and Piedmont Park, has sparked pushback from neighbors since first being proposed.
Now, the Amsterdam Walk development is back before the city council on Monday afternoon.
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Channel 2 Action News previously reported when neighbors came out to oppose the planned development, saying the mixed-use property would be inappropriate.
'It's not like we're opposed to development, but we need something that's appropriate to size and is feasible,' resident Charlie Kaften told Channel 2's Eryn Rogers in March.
Kaften said after six months of silence, a vote in February pushed it to the next stage of the process with a new proposal by developer Portman Holdings.
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A previous version of the development plan from 2023 proposed 900 apartments and office spaces, with up to 16-story buildings. While both the Zoning Review Board and Neighborhood Planning Unit pushed back on it, a new proposal was filed in February.
Kaften said now, 'they're trying to cram it through.'
As previously reported, the newer plan has more residential units and shorter buildings, but neighbors don't like the traffic they expect from the already busy area once the work starts, and even after it's complete.
The version before the Atlanta City Council on Monday features what developers said 'aligns with the conditions the applicant has been negotiating with the neighborhood planning committees and other stakeholders.'
At a virtual meeting about the proposal in March, almost 200 people logged on to discuss it.
While some neighbors are opposed to the project, others told Channel 2 Action News that they saw it as a positive move.
Instead, they think the development will be good for the neighborhood.
'There is an amazing opportunity to bring in a lot of vibrancy to our neighborhood and expand our ability to go places within our neighborhood,' resident, Ivan Schustak said in March. 'We should be more of a magnet than we are right now.'
Schustak agreed that traffic would be worse, though, and said Portman Holdings should push Atlanta officials to create the Beltline light rail they've been discussing.
Should the proposal be approved, documents provided to the city council say that the 'rezoning will allow the construction of 3 buildings for commercial use, office space, and 900 multi-family units. The estimated completion date is 2028.'
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