Legislation introduced in the Georgia General Assembly that would set statewide zoning requirements got a cool reception from some elected officials, but they agreed that the issue the bill proposes to address – affordable housing – is a problem.
The Georgia Homeowner Opportunity Act – HB 517 would prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing ordinances or building design regulations as applied to one- or two-family dwellings. The bill sets a statewide square footage standard and statewide lot size requirements, according to the Council of Neighborhoods.
The bill has been assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee.
“There’s probably half a dozen bills in there right now that take away local ability, local control from us as policy advisors, policy setters, the ability to do what our community asks us to do. I think the good news is 517 is clearly unconstitutional,” Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said during the city’s Annual Retreat for the Board of Appeals and the Planning Commission on March 1.
He said the Georgia Constitution reserves zoning and land use solely for local government.
The Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods shared a release opposing HB 517, saying it’s a bad bill for all Georgia cities.
“This legislation undercuts one of the core functions of all local governments; to plan for the growth and development of their community and it undermines the ability of local residents to have input through their local community planning processes,” the release said.
Rep. Shea Roberts does not support HB 517 as it was drafted. But she said she was concerned about the state of housing affordability and believes hard decisions will need to be made for any hope to address the issue.
“There is a shortage of affordable single-family and two-family housing. Land prices are so expensive that I do believe municipalities should start looking at more creative options that include smaller lots and square footage as well as ways to reduce red tape and administrative cost that is being passed on to buyers,” Roberts said.
Gov. Brian Kemp has expressed support for relaxed zoning requirements, which could give this bill traction, she said.
Paul agreed that across the region are real challenges in affordable housing. The mayor said he worked on the Atlanta Regional Commission when it called the Local Leadership Housing Task Force.
“We’re trying to deal with this, but we can’t control the market. We can’t control what you want to sell in place. We can’t wave a magic wand and make new carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers and electricians,” Paul said.
Sandy Springs Together co-founder Melanie Couchman said the metro area has more than 70 municipalities, each with its own zoning and development codes. This approach has each city competing to be more exclusive than its neighbors, so nothing is happening to move affordable housing forward, she said.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any bold actions by any of these cities in the metro area to address our housing crisis. So it doesn’t surprise us that a different level of government is being forced to step in,” she said.
In Sandy Springs, 85 percent of its residential land is zoned exclusively for single-family detached homes, leaving little land to accommodate economic growth, Couchman said. Studies for the city’s Next 10 comprehensive plan, its 5-year update, the Strategic Economic Development Plan and the Housing Needs Assessment all reported that a lack of housing is slowing the city’s growth, she said. The Housing Needs Assessment reported that employers said their employees have commutes of upwards of an hour.
“As traffic increases their concerns regarding workforce attraction and retention become bigger challenges,” she said.
The bill is being interpreted broadly when the issues need to be looked at individually because the challenges each city faces are different, Couchman said.
Couchman said she hopes cities will respond to this action by the legislature in a positive way and use it as a catalyst to have more creating conversations about how to meet housing needs because it’s not just Sandy Springs but it’s all throughout the state.
