South Buckhead strives for walkable Peachtree Road

Just north of one of Atlanta’s most walkable districts — Peachtree Street in Midtown — Peachtree Road in South Buckhead is seemingly the antithesis of walker-friendly: a car-oriented zone with almost zero pedestrian appeal.

However, city officials are trying to change all of that as dense development continues marching into the Brookwood area. They’re lobbying for rezoning that could help reshape the neighborhood, in fact.

According to Atlanta INtown, the “Peachtree Corridor” rezoning study is well on its way to completion. It would recommend requiring narrower towers to break down the wall of development along the street, as well as step-down requirements to ease density near existing single-family homes.

As midcentury structures give way to new medical buildings, mixed-use senior facilities, storage facilities, and even residences, the city is exploring options to make the area more pedestrian-friendly.

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Furthermore, officials are exploring how to encourage developers to go mixed-use within their parcels — possibly through development bonus credits.

The study area stretches from the top of Midtown at Deering Road to Sheridan Drive in Garden Hills. The update is long overdue, with current zoning on the corridor dating back to 1982 — when things were very, very different in Atlanta.

Still, there’s a long way to go before the final draft.

At a recent meeting, many neighbors expressed concerns about density that’s planned for the corridor. And they don’t sound too enamored with this stretch of Peachtree, as is:

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• New Peachtree Road corridor zoning aims for walkable street [Atlanta INtown]
• Peachtree Corridor: Atlanta [study website]