The Athens-Clarke County Planning Department is bringing a renowned urban planning expert to town this week as part of a three-year-long effort to draw a new future land use map guiding growth for the next 25 years.
Joe Minicozzi, former director of the Asheville Downtown Association and founder of the urban planning firm Urban3, specializes in using graphics to help people visualize the impact of land use on tax revenue. He is a proponent of New Urbanism—a design philosophy that favors old-fashioned walkable neighborhoods over car-centric sprawl—but looks at it from an economic perspective, explaining which kind of land uses generate revenue and which are a drain on taxpayers, according to ACC Planning Director Bruce Lonnee.
“He’s really good at making that case, and in a way that tells the good story and the bad,” said Lonnee, who described Minicozzi as “energetic and charismatic.”
Minicozzi is scheduled to give three presentations in Athens this week: one to the mayor and commission Wednesday, May 7 at 4 p.m.; one for the business community at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 8 at the 1055 Barber Street event space, sponsored by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce; and one for the general public at 6 p.m. May 8 in the Clarke Central High School auditorium.
Planners recently wrapped up a third round of public input on the future land use map. The current proposal only makes changes to less than 6% of the county’s land—primarily along major corridors and at major intersections—while leaving residential neighborhoods relatively untouched. Increased density along those corridors will allow Athens to absorb the estimated 30,000 new residents the city is expected to add by 2050, Lonnee said. He expects to present the map to the mayor and commission in August or September.
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