Recommendations
Atlanta City Design provides a clear and achievable vision for the City of Atlanta’s future that is based on five key values: Equity, Progress, Ambition, Access and Nature. To implement Atlanta City Design, the Department of City Planning commissioned a comprehensive analysis of its historic preservation-related activity. This analysis, the Future Places Project, sought to:
determine the status and perception of the City’s current historic preservation work;
elevate the overall perception of historic preservation in the City and build a sustainable community dialogue;
understand and expand the definition of what is considered historic to Atlanta;
learn from fellow Atlantans and from other cities;
outline a path forward; and
make recommendations the Department of City Planning and other City agencies could consider for their historic preservation-related work.
This multi-faceted endeavor produced several deliverables, including:
A Call-to-Action highlighting the initiative’s recommendations
A Summary Report
In-depth technical reports:
Peer City Analysis
Every Park Tells A Story: City of Atlanta Parks Historic Resource Survey
Public Engagement
Data and mapping catalog
Windshield survey
Based on the research, analysis and multiple community conversations, the Future Places Project has the following recommendations to improve and expand the direction of the City’s historic preservation work:
Help People Know
Pop-Up History Kiosks- Install information kiosks in selected locations around the City.
Social Media Public Engagement on Applications/Projects- Post images and information on social media about applications for work /proposed demolitions on historic buildings,
Parks Social Media Campaign – Establish a social media campaign that encourages the public to “tag” their favorite park photos with various hashtags related to the City’s historic parks.
Story Maps for City History and Parks – Develop on-line “story maps” highlighting the City’s past, its historic places, and its great stories.
City Success Stories / City Preservation Blog - Create print or digital “pathways” to talk about the City’s historic preservation-related success stories, both large and small.
City Historic Preservation Staff Presence – Increase City historic preservation staff activity in the communities in which they work.
Community Liaison Program – Create community points of contact for City historic preservation staff to exchange information about historic preservation.
Help People Understand
African-American Heritage Preservation Coordinator – Create a City position to pursue grants, perform outreach and coordinate with non-profit advocacy organizations
Historic Preservation/Design Fellowship – Pick a City-related historic preservation/design challenge and sponsor its solution.
Historic Preservation Design Assistance Team – Create a team to help owners successfully gain City approval for their historic preservation projects and help them get started.
Graphic Manuals, Handbooks, Design Guidelines, Tool Kits, “Road Show” Kits – Create these to address common historic preservation issues, questions, challenges, opportunities, and options.
Business Development Packets – Compile information showing that knowing and honoring the past can make a difference to a proposed project, from its naming, its future appearance and use, and its financial success.
Digital Atlanta – Assemble a data-based web site where individuals can learn about the history of their property.
Historic Homeowner Exhibition/Fair and Training Sessions – Execute an educational activity with speakers, vendors, and service providers to share information with people who own historic properties.
Historic Preservation Academy - A training program for community liaisons and the general public about historic preservation, modeled after the City’s public safety “Citizens Academy” or “NPU University” programs.
Preservation Partnerships- Establish new or strengthened partnerships with groups that develop tours, interpret the City’s history, conduct public outreach, and advocate for historic preservation.
Heritage Tourism– Emphasize the unique history and places in the City, including its parks; and market the City as a “pro-history” City.
Atlanta Main Street – Support and advocate for this program.
Help People Share
Student Design, Essay, and Photography Contests –Support competitions on topics/issues related to historic preservation with winner(s) announced at the City’s annual Design Awards.
Historic Preservation Lecture Series - Bring new voices to the historic preservation conversation in the City by inviting regional or national speakers.
Historic Preservation Day at Atlanta City Hall – Create an open house/community fair event that allows non-profit and similar groups to share their history, work, and successes.
Save Our Stories Social Media Crowdsourcing Campaign - This would allow people to identify the places that are special to them in a real time/grass roots way.
Historic Preservation Round Table Group – Facilitate a group to discuss/share information among the general public and preservation organizations through periodic meetings/seminars/etc.
Public Outreach/Summer Program - Create a brochure or “passport” inviting the public to a quest to visit all of Atlanta’s historic resource parks and work with commercial partners for a “reward” for visiting all of them.
History-Focused APS School Curriculum – Formulate an educational unit to share general historic preservation ideas and Atlanta-specific issues/stories/programs.
Oral History– Partner with universities and non-profits to expand the City’s pilot oral history program at the grass roots level.
Learn more about ourselves/our city
“Champions for History” Program – Establish a program so that a person/group can take on a particular research topic or theme on the City’s history and report back to the City’s historic preservation staff, with the City pledging to support them in some way and/or create a program for area college students to be paired with a neighborhood to help them with their research.
Cemetery Inventory/Catalog – Inventory abandoned and/or small cemeteries in the City.
Traditional Field Survey Program – Establish a regular survey program every summer for community members, college / graduate students, etc. with training and support provided by the City.
Alternative Survey Program – Create coarse-grain, low-cost surveys that use digital aerial photographs and historic maps to identify groupings of properties constructed at a similar time with similar forms.
Cultural Mapping – Create a process for community members to indicate areas of importance to them outside of traditional history qualifications – also called Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) or Participatory GIS (PGIS).
Recognize What We Value
“Legacy Building/Home/Business” Recognition Program – Establish a program to acknowledge the value of these components of a community without official protection/designation.
Proactive Designation/Protection – Increase designation activity based on the themes and priorities identified in the Future Places Project.
Nomination Options for Who Nominates a Property – Expand options so that any individual or group within Atlanta could nominate a property for designation.
Nomination/Designation Tools – Create new protection options within the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
Revise the Existing City Historic Preservation Ordinance – Address outdated or confusing terms, phrasing, procedures, categories, as well as latest historic preservation thinking, new tools, etc.
Standard Interim Controls – Create standard interim controls to be used during the designation/protection process to allow the focus of the process to be on the actual designation options/choices.
Demolition and Major Alteration Review for All Properties 40 years of Age or Older – Establish this review requirement, which would apply to properties even if they are not officially protected by the City.
Structures of Merit Program – Formulate a formal category within the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance for resources identified in past surveys or other efforts to have not been designated. Requests for demolition or major alteration of a Structure of Merit should trigger a review process to determine if the property meets the criteria for historic designation.
Archeological Preservation Ordinance – Enact a new ordinance as there are currently no protections for potential archeological resources in the City.
Keep What We Value
Dedicated Building Inspector for Historic Preservation.
Fines – Increase the fines associated with violation
Staff Review vs. Commission Review – Increase the use of Staff Review in the City’s Landmark and Historic Districts to reduce time and paperwork.
Demolition by Neglect Provisions – Increase enforcement of “demolition by neglect” provisions in the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
Review and Comment Process – Require City and other public agency projects receive approval from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.
Deconstruction and Salvage – Regulate how properties that are being demolished actually get demolished to avoid unnecessary loss of historic features to the landfill.
New Park Classification – Create a new parkland classification, “historic resource park,” to raise awareness about the care and treatment of these parks and to better enhance their profile within the City.
Protect What We Value
Park Acquisition and Historic Resources – Acquire properties area for new parks that contain historic resources that speak to the City’s history.
City-Based Economic Incentives – Increase those related to historic preservation.
Historic Preservation Bond Fund or Revolving Loan Fund.
Hotel Tax for Historic Preservation - Allocate a portion of the hotel tax for historic preservation related funding.
How can you help keep Atlanta historic?