Community Improvements

Buckhead is continuously evolving and developing.  With this growth comes the need for mobility and infrastructure improvements that are in direct alignment with the future needs of the community.  BATMA directly works with the The Buckhead Community Improvement District, who is dedicated to improving the Buckhead Community by:

• improving traffic mobility
• enhancing the pedestrian environment
• creating better access to public transit
• initiating intra-district transportation alternatives
• encouraging better integration of land uses
• improving linkages to the region's automobile, transit and bicycle networks

Community Planning Efforts and Projects

Brookwood Blueprint
With the help of a team of students from Georgia Tech, the Brookwood Alliance has begun a master planning effort geared toward addressing accessibility, development and roadway design in the area of Buckhead anchored by Piedmont Hospital.  Click here to find out more details about this effort:

Piedmont Corridor Study  
Nearly everyone agrees that Piedmont Road in Buckhead needs some improvements. BATMA and the Buckhead Community Improvement District are leading an effort to do something about it.  The first step -- a 12-month, $200,000 traffic mobility study of Piedmont from Roswell Road south to I-85 – is now complete.  Learn more about the challenges facing Piedmont Road and the 47 projects recommended to improve it.

Peachtree Boulevard Transformation
The Peachtree Boulevard transformation will enhance the major transportation artery of Buckhead to improve automobile traffic flow, transit access and pedestrian safety, making Peachtree Road the true signature boulevard of Atlanta.  Check out the Peachtree Boulevard website for more detailed information.  

Buckhead Zoning:
SPI-12 Zoning Ordinance 
The SPI-12 ordinance is a mixed-use development zoning ordinance that applies to several areas within Buckhead. To obtain an official copy, please contact the City of Atlanta's planning department. To download an unofficial PDF version for review purposes click here.

Quality of Life Zoning Districts:
In August of 2001, the Bureau of Planning, in conjunction with the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board (APAB), conducted a series of area study workshops for all of the Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) in the City to discuss the new Quality of Life Zoning initiatives (LW, MRC, MR). These districts are aimed at updating the City of Atlanta Zoning code to allow for new zoning districts to respond to the needs of our neighborhoods by introducing requirements for sidewalks, street trees, parking lot landscaping and pedestrian-oriented building forms, among other improvements.

Diesel Idle Reduction Program
BATMA, in partnership with the Clean Air Campaign, can help employers and property managers to develop a comprehensive program to reduce the amount of unnecessary diesel engine idling at loading docks, helping to reduce the fuel waste, engine component wear, and harmful emissions emitted into the air. BATMA and the Clean Air Campaign can provide free “No-Idle Zone” signage, help distribute educational and training materials, and help bring awareness to your organization’s sustainability effort.

To see a list of Buckhead businesses and properties who participate in the program click here

City of Atlanta’s 2010 Sustainability Plan
On October 25th, Mayor Kasim Reed launched an ambitious city initiative that commits Atlanta to become one of the nation’s top-10 cities for sustainability.  Atlanta currently ranks 19 in a national survey of the largest cities compiled by the organization Sustain U.S, up from 38 in 2008.  Reed’s initiative includes many specific goals pertaining to transportation, water quality, air quality, waste, energy, local food systems and greenspace. 

To see the plan in its entirety click here

Buckhead’s Greenspace Plan
In 2007, the city of Atlanta's "Project Greenspace" identified the Buckhead commercial core district as the lowest "parked" in the entire City. Spearheaded by Councilman Howard Shook, the Buckhead CID, BATMA and the Buckhead Coalition are taking steps to change this. It is the goal to ensure Buckhead’s greenspace system is not only the best in the City of Atlanta, but truly world class.

To achieve this goal the community is looking to: 1) Analyze the Buckhead community as related to local and national service standards and define the appropriate standards for the community; 2) Explore previously untapped resources for green space implementation including but not limited to publicly owned lands and rights-of-way; 3) Identify cutting edge techniques, such as public private partnerships/Redfields to Green Fields, to grow the greenspace system, 4) Identify the resources (financial and other) necessary to support the greenspace system; and 4) Develop a 10-year action plan that will bring Buckhead’s green space levels to those outlined in Project Greenspace that will ensure the community’s continued world class positioning.