The Georgia House of Representatives just passed a bill to allow small Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs, disarmingly called “tiny homes”) to be put on every lot in every neighborhood zoned for residential use in the entire state– regardless of whether or not this violates the zoning protections which your local government has enacted for your neighborhood.
HB 1166 says “no zoning decision shall affect or be required for the construction…. of dwellings of 400 square feet or fewer…. upon any property zoned for… residential uses… [except historic districts]” (pages 2-3, lines 30-44).
This means that any greedy developer could buy your neighbor’s house and put up one or, if the lot is large enough and the developer unscrupulous enough, multiple ADU’s to sell or rent, by dividing the parcel. You would not have any power to object, nor would your local government have any power to stop it – even if your neighborhood is zoned “single family residential” with minimum lot sizes, set back lines, etc.
After it has been done once, it will invite a feeding frenzy by other developers to buy up more lots and to build, sell, and rent more ADU’s.
Neighborhoods are where families live and love, where our children grow up and where their memories are made. People move to neighborhoods they like, invest their money and their lives there and put down roots for the long term. Neighborhoods are the heart and soul of every city and county in America. That is why public policy in Georgia, and most other states too, has consistently provided ways for government to protect neighborhoods. Among these are zoning ordinances, specifying what may be built where; and re-zoning processes, specifying what steps someone must take to change the zoning of a parcel.
The re-zoning processes give neighbors an opportunity to be heard, and give the local government an opportunity to decide what is in the best interest of the community.
All this would be swept away by HB 1166. By action of the state, the decision about what happens in your community is taken from neighbors and local governments. It’s placed solely in the hands of the most unscrupulous developer who takes an interest in your neighborhood.
And really, it isn’t even the developers who are driving this idea. It is the “urbanist” theoreticians and professors. They believe in the virtue of high-density as an article of faith. Today, they dress it up (falsely) as a way to solve the housing affordability problem. In earlier years, it was pitched as a way to support mass transit, or artistic amenities, or whatever the talking point of the day was. They are always for it.
The irony is most Georgia communities already have high-density neighborhoods. People who like density can choose to live there. If there is sufficient demand, more high-density neighborhoods can and will be built. They can be very attractive, a nice place to live.
But low-density neighborhoods can also be a nice place to live, and people should be able to choose them too. They shouldn’t have to worry about the government deciding that it will convert them into high-density neighborhoods, willy nilly. If the local community and the local government decide to do that in an open and above-board way, well, that’s their right. Every place in the state isn’t the same, and local communities should have the right to make their own decisions.
In Atlanta, we had this debate five years ago. Mayor Keisha Lance-Bottoms wanted to gut our single-family zoning, forcing high density into established neighborhoods. Once people became aware of it, there was a big backlash from the neighborhoods– black, white and mixed, north, south, and middle. It became obvious it was an election-loser, and she backed off. Current Mayor Andre Dickens thankfully has taken the position of protecting the neighborhoods.
But now comes the state, to force ADU’s when Bottoms couldn’t? Who expected that?
HB 1166 is so destructive to keeping our neighborhoods strong and safe, and to protecting what for most people is their largest investment, that it makes you think that the House didn’t really understand what it was doing. Let’s hope that’s what happened. The bill passed late at night on Crossover Day, when there is a long list of bills to be voted on rapid-fire. That’s not much time for serious debate about most of them, and no opportunity for cool, reasoned study of any of them.
Also, the bill probably violates the Georgia Constitution’s Home Rule Amendment which gives local governments essentially full control over the substance of zoning decisions. But who wants to take a chance on what some rogue judge might decide?
In any case, the Senate and the governor can still stop it. Neighborhoods and local governments across the state, await your action!
Bob Irvin of Atlanta is a former state House of Representatives GOP leader.
