BNC — Our Vision for Atlanta's BeltLine

There is a vision of the BeltLine that has inspired us all — a vision of linear parks, trails, and greenways; an emerald necklace with new opportunities for transit and recreation which will enhance and strengthen our intown communities. Yet even before this vision has had the chance to take hold, we see another, more disturbing, vision of the BeltLine emerging, where our parks and greenways are crowded out by mega-development, where neighborhood streets are choked by thousands of new cars while transit is still decades away, and where high rises tower over single family homes.

Why is the promise of the BeltLine in danger of being transformed into this disappointing reality? Because in our zeal to make the promise of the BeltLine happen, we have confused the means with the ends. Development has replaced both public infrastructure and transportation as the driver and organizer of the plan. One-size-fits-all mantras about density have replaced appropriate safeguards to protect existing neighborhoods. And common sense protection and extension of existing parks and green space has been usurped by a desire to appropriate every usable acre for development.

In order to recapture the promise of the BeltLine, we must commit to a process that is careful, disciplined and responsible, that recognizes both its potential and its pitfalls. We must prioritize the core values of the BeltLine: a linear park; continuous trails; a reinvigoration of existing parks and the creation of new green space; a plan that strengthens, protects and preserves the neighborhoods which it passes through; and new development based on transit and sustainable principles.

The BeltLine Neighbors propose a reaffirmation of clear design principles to guide the planning for the BeltLine:

1. Maintaining a clearly defined public greenway along the entire length of the BeltLine, with adequate width to create a true linear park that can also accommodate trails and future transit options.
2. Retaining the BeltLine property along our parks, including Piedmont Park, as green space. The BeltLine should enhance and expand our existing parks, not wall them in with linear development.
3. Respecting and reaffirming the CDP land use plan for neighborhoods around the BeltLine. The years of work that neighborhoods have invested into planning for future growth should be the basis of all planning for future development.
4. A phased development strategy that limits the scale of development until transit is in place. Building car oriented development today in anticipation of future transit promises years of overcrowded streets and increasing pollution, and undermines the potential success of transit when it arrives.
5. A clearly articulated "step down" guideline to limit the scale of development adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The careful height guide lines which have been developed in areas all over the city should be adopted for the BeltLine.
6. Maintaining, repairing and extending the existing street grids and urban fabric, with clearly delineated and pedestrian scaled streetscapes, blocks, and parcels.
7. Quality-of-life zoning principles for all BeltLine development.
8. A plan that incorporates needed traffic calming and pedestrian improvements to local streets which run alongside the BeltLine, such as Monroe Drive in the northeast quadrant. In order for the BeltLine to succeed, the surrounding neighborhoods must become havens for safe pedestrian travel.

The BeltLine will take decades to fully realize, and its effects will last for generations. Before we leap headlong into this once in a lifetime opportunity, let us have the patience, commitment, and courage to demand that Beltline live up to its full potential.

Illlustration of Our Vision
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