Cobb to hold December meetings on Unified Development code

It’s been nearly a year since there have been events around Cobb’s proposed Unified Development Code.

A UDC is a comprehensive planning guide which incorporates zoning, planning and land-use with design, landscaping, architectural and other guidelines. Local Atlanta-area jurisdictions that have them are the cities of Atlanta and Roswell and DeKalb County.

Cobb commissioners voted along party lines in Aug. 2022 to spend $500,000 for an outside consultant to conduct a public feedback process and assist county staff in creating the code.

The county announced recently that there will be several public meetings about the UDC in December at various locations following the publication of a UDC code assessment draft.

You can read through the UDC assessment draft by clicking here; it’s 149 pages of detailed information and recommendations.

The meeting schedule is rather compact—six meetings eight days, culminating with the only East Cobb meeting on Dec. 14 at the Mountain View Community Center:

Wednesday Dec. 6, 6 – 8 p.m., Windy Hill Community Center, 1885 Roswell Street SE, Smyrna
Thursday, Dec. 7, 6 – 8 p.m., North Cobb Regional Library, 3900 S Main Street, Acworth
Monday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m. – noon, BOC Meeting Room, 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m. – noon, West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Hwy, Powder Springs
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 6 – 8 p.m., Thompson Park Community Center, 555 Nickajack Road, Mableton
Thursday, Dec. 14, 6 – 8 p.m., Mountain View Community Center, 3400 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta

County officials have said the current collection of zoning, planning and development ordinances are more than 50 years old and need a streamlined overhaul.

“The goal of the Unified Development Code (UDC) project is to produce a document that encourages and enables development and redevelopment in identified centers while preserving the unique character of the county’s rural areas,” the county said in a recent message, adding that:

“The project also aims to protect existing neighborhoods, conserve natural and historic resources, support economic development and provide an opportunity for various housing types.”

At the time the consultant was hired, Cobb Community Development director Jessica Guinn said that “this will be a robust public process.

The December hearings are the first part of a three-step process to gain public input, make revisions and present a final version—following more public sessions—for adoption by commissioners.

Here’s more about the timeline; and more documents can be found by clicking here.