The Sandy Springs City Council got its first look this week at proposed changes to its development code covering everything from converting commercial spaces to residential to allowing “manor houses” in some neighborhoods.
Community Development Director Ginger Sottile said residents and property owners will get a chance to comment on the proposed changes to the development code during an open house at 6 p.m. on Sept. 26 at Sandy Springs City Hall.
Some of the changes include allowing developers to convert office space to residential in certain zoning districts, said city consultant Christy Dodson of Code Studio, during her presentation.
A new use would be allowing up to four residential units in one building – referred to as a “manor house” – in residential urban (RU) districts. These buildings would have to be scaled and designed to look like single-family homes.
“We’re proposing that it would be allowed in certain districts, particularly in the urban neighborhood districts and the number of units that would be allowed in these buildings varies,” Dodson said.
These manor houses could have up to four units in residential urban districts, and up to 12 units per building in zoning districts that allow mixed-use and multi-unit development.
Sandy Springs would allow age-restricted units in some zoning districts, a trend Dodson said is growing and is seen extensively in Atlanta. The city would have to follow federal guidelines set up by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to meet Fair Housing Act requirements.
“There’s a definition that was set by HUD for age-restricted units, and that specifies that 80 percent of the units must be occupied by a person 55 years of age or older,” she said.
Another growing trend is the installation of electrical vehicle charging stations. Sandy Springs does not have zoning classifications for EV charging stations, but the development code review suggests adding them.
Restaurants are a common use allowed by the development code, but the city wants to restrict them to “neighborhood scale” to keep their sizes appropriate for neighborhoods. These would be cafés, bistros and mini-restaurants, Dodson said.
The development code update would attempt to add flexibility to the cottage court development pattern, she said. This pattern arranges residences around a common open space or courtyard, which is allowed but rarely used. The proposal would add single-unit attached residential units as a permitted use.
A similar development type would be added to allow single-unit attached, single-unit detached or neighborhood units to be built on a shared court or shared street.
