Roswell Hopes New Zoning Project Encourages Redevelopment

It's been quite a few years since the majority of Roswell was unincumbered green space, marked by grassy hills and forests. Today, the city is all but built out; however most of the city's zoning ordinances still predicate on the idea that developers are going in with new development - not the redevelopment that many areas actually require.

Currently, the process to redevelop a property in Roswell often requires a plethora of expensive studies, which were originally geared toward new development and can be non-essential for a redevelopment project.

"We’re basically disincentivizing [redevelopment] with the high cost to do it," said Roswell City Councilwoman Nancy Diamond.

Layers of convoluted zoning ordinances, overlays and special uses in an area sometimes cancel out other existing zoning law, making an already confusing process, even more confusing. And this is where the Unified Development Code (UDC) project comes in, according to Diamond.

"If you’re making a bad situation better [with redevelopment], let's see where we can get it," she said.

To help streamline the zoning code and redevelopment process, the city hired Code Studio as a consultant earlier this spring. Not only should the code they come up with clarify Roswell zoning, it will hopefully inspire redevelopment as well, say champions.

Roswell zoning code "is really a massive thing to rewrite and update and review," said Diamond.

But the consultants won't be reworking current code all on their own. The city expects plenty of input from local residents, businesses and property owners.

"If it isn’t organic, it isn’t right," Diamond said of the push to get feedback on how new zoning code should be written.

A public input meeting on Wednesday, June 20, will be the first of many meetings over the course of the project. During the meeting, city staff and consultants are expected to give a brief presentation on what the UDC is all about, as well as hold a question/answer session to make sure all participants understand the process.

The city has projected it will take between 18-24 months to complete the project. More public input meetings are expected.

The first meeting will be held on June 20 from 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m. at in Council Chambers. To stay informed about the UDC project, visit the website or contact Jackie Deibel at 770-641-3783 or jdeibel@roswellgov.com to be included in the project e-mail list.