The final Stakeholders Presentation of the Greater Piedmont Heights Master Framework Plan took place on September 13, 2012.
Stakeholders in this plan are not just Piedmont Heights residents, businesses and institutions but, equally important, all those in abutting neighborhoods, the Cheshire Bridge Road corridor, the Armour/Ottley industrial area and the Sweetwater Design District.
The seeds for this plan were sown in the spring of 2006 when Livable Communities Coalition held a workshop for Piedmont Heights to address the impact of the proposed Atlanta BeltLine which would run along its western border. Later that year the Georgia Conservancy organized Blueprints Piedmont Heights and produced a Long Term Vision for the neighborhood which subsequently greatly influenced BeltLine Plans for the community and the surrounding area.
Today there are two BeltLine Plans overlapping in Piedmont Heights (with multiple transit and trail routes), a Connect Atlanta plan, studies for a MARTA/multi-modal station, a Clifton Corridor transit line, new GA-400/I-85 Ramps, concepts to alter Monroe Drive/I-85, trails along Peachtree Creek and its South Fork and multiple proposed private developments, all of which radically impact, for good and bad, Piedmont Heights and surrounding communities.
So, why another plan? They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but Piedmont Heightsis faced with a “thousand pictures” and uncoordinated scenarios. We need only “one picture” but one which will unify the best concepts of all the others into a single workable plan.
In December, 2011 the Piedmont Heights Civic Association hired three noted planners to develop this plan for Piedmont Heights and its environs: David Green with Perkins+Will, Peter Drey with Peter Drey Associates and John Wyle with Rosser International, assisted by Ryan Gravel (“father” of the BeltLine) and Heather Alhadeff (former Director of Transportation for the City of Atlanta). The finished plan focuses on infrastructure and connectivity. A network of streets, trails and green spaces will encourage responsible development and appropriate transit, vehicular and pedestrian movements for a fully integrated and connected community.
What credibility will the plan have? The power of any plan resides in the voices and efforts of the people who support it, which power can absolutely influence the future. A very dramatic example is the new
14th Street Bridge in Midtown. GDOT initially designed a plain vanilla 8-lane bridge. Midtown Alliance, along with the Home Park Community Improvement Association, hired Peter Drey to design a new bridge. Peter eliminated two traffic lanes, added a landscaped median, decorative screens and lighting, – and they convinced GDOT to build it!
For more information contact:
BILL SEAY
Chair, Piedmont Heights Planning Committee
billseay@bellsouth.net
404-881-6342
