Current Policies

Environmental policies are directed at improving the City’s stewardship of its unique, fragile environmental resources.  Atlanta’s goal is to respect these assets when creating policies for future development.

Soil Erosion

The City of Atlanta Erosion and Sedimentation Control Ordinance (Chapter 74, Article II of the City Code) provides legal authority to enforce soil erosion and sediment control measures for land-disturbing activities that apply to all features of a particular site, including street and utility installations, drainage facilities and other temporary and permanent improvements. The City's ordinance also includes the statewide requirement that at least twenty-five feet along stream banks remain as undisturbed vegetation.  Additionally, the City requires a seventy-five foot buffer protection along perennial and intermittent streams.  These provisions reduce the sediment load in area creeks and rivers.

Water Supply Watersheds

Water Supply Watersheds in Atlanta are protected by the ordinance currently contained in Appendix B of the CDP. The ordinance regulates uses within a seven-mile radius up stream of any public drinking water supply intake, which would handle hazardous materials.  Requirements include siting such uses on an impervious surface and having a spill and leak collection system. 

The Chattahoochee River And The Metropolitan River Protection Act (Mrpa)

The provisions of the Metropolitan River Protection Act protect the length of the Chattahoochee River within Atlanta City Limits.  The law as applied to the Atlanta Region establishes a river protection corridor two thousand feet from either bank of the river below Buford Dam in Gwinnett County to the southern boundary of Fulton County.  Development standards within the corridor include a fifty-foot natural vegetative buffer, a 150-foot impervious surface setback along the bank of the Chattahoochee River, and a thirty-five-foot natural vegetative buffer on both banks of all flowing tributary streams in the Corridor.  The MRPA also requires that local governments adopt tributary buffer ordinances for streams outside the 2000-foot River Corridor that drain into the Chattahoochee River.

This requirement is satisfied by the City of Atlanta Riparian Buffer Ordinance (Chapter 79, Article VII of the City Code).  Other MRPA provisions are contained in the Zoning Code.

Metro Atlanta Urban Watershed Initiative (Mauwi)

The overall goal of MAUWI, a joint initiative by the City of Atlanta, Fulton County, and DeKalb County, was to determine the current conditions and uses of Atlanta’s urban streams, assess the size and impacts of the different pollution sources, and evaluate options for improving water quality. The outcome of MAUWI was the MAUWI Watershed Management Guidance Document, which established a vision and goals intended to guide the City and community groups in the care and development of the City’s watersheds.

The MAUWI Vision is “Healthy and aesthetically appealing streams for ourselves, our children, and our downstream neighbors, with a diverse and healthy aquatic life and habitat, supported by an educated and involved citizenry, government, and business community, and a future for flood-free neighborhoods.”

The goals established by MAUWI are as follows:

  • Reduce litter in streams
  • Meet water quality standards in streams
  • Improve water quality in streams
  • Improve stream habitat
  • Implement cost-effective strategies
  • Reduce flooding of human structures
  • Increase health and diversity of aquatic life
  • Increase citizen, government, and business awareness of watershed pollution

Wetlands

Atlanta complies with the federal wetlands program under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act in order to maintain and protect these natural resources.  Developers are responsible for requesting a determination of jurisdiction for any project that would result in altering over one acre of wetlands as required by the Clean Water Act.  Atlanta does not allow land-disturbing activity within delineated wetlands jurisdictions except as restricted by a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs has recommended a set of regulations to be included in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) that would protect the City’s wetlands in providing for the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. Towards this end, the City has adopted a wetland protection ordinance, which is included in Appendix B of the CDP.   This Ordinance requires coordination between the City and Corps permitting processes.

Air Quality

The State of Georgia and the Atlanta Region is governed by a SIP or State Implementation Plan, to attain air quality standards in accordance with the Federal Clean Air Act.  Automobiles are restricted by the SIP.  The City has been involved with the State Clean Air Campaign since 1998 and has achieved the highest level of recognition as part of the program.  In addition, the City implemented an idling ordinance in April 2003 which limits the amount of vehicular idling to fifteen consecutive minutes.

Protection And Conservation Of The City's Natural Resources

  1. Include the protection of unique and sensitive natural resources in neighborhood open space framework plan.

  2. Support and promote opportunities for establishing conservation easements as authorized in the City of Atlanta Tree Ordinance.

  3. Develop and implement an inventory, to include geographical informational system (GIS) data, of Atlanta's natural resources, in coordination with local, state, regional and federal agencies.

  4. Identify priority natural resources and methods to protect and enhance natural resources.

  5. Create a protected greenway along the Chattahoochee River from the northern city limits at the National Park Service Recreational Area to southern city limits at the Fulton County Airport.

  6. Evaluate the use of performance standards in the city-zoning ordinance to address impacts of commercial and industrial uses on the environment.

  7. Optimize educational opportunities related to natural resources protection.

  8. Preserve and enhance the City’s environmental resources through the implementation of the Parks, Open Space, and Greenways Plan.

  9. Permit development based upon the carrying capacity of available infrastructure and the natural environment.

  10. Integrate natural resource conservation and greenspace creation into the planning for and siting of City facilities.

  11. Promote the permanent protection of greenspace constituting at least 20% of the City’s geographic area for informal recreation and natural resource protection, in accordance with the Georgia Greenspace Program.

  12. Establish consistent and coordinated environmental criteria for interdepartmental use for construction during all development, economic and facilities plans, land use policies and codes.

  13. Encourage and support all citizen participation and environmental education programs.

  14. Ensure that all development within the City complies with applicable State and Federal Environmental Policies.

Protection And Enhancement Of The City's Park Lands

  1. Restrict development of wetlands to boardwalks, informational signage and other recreational and educational elements that protect and preserve the resource.

  2. Restrict development of floodplains to pathways, picnic areas, ball fields, golf courses and other appropriate recreational elements that protect and preserve the resource.

  3. Limit the use of maintenance chemicals that pollute water, air and wildlife habitats.

  4. Create a position in the Bureau of Parks, Forestry Division that will be responsible for protection and maintenance of City stream banks and major riparian corridors located in parks and other public lands, and to provide technical assistance for protection of all riparian corridors. 

  5. Investigate the feasibility and need for the use of greywater to irrigate recreational facilities such as ball fields and golf courses.

Protection And Enhancement Of The Function And Integrity Of The City's Flood Plains

  1. Assist in and support the metropolitan watershed management guidelines as developed by the Atlanta Regional Commission – Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District in conjunction with all participating local governments.

  2. Revise development standards to prevent the alteration of the size or shape of natural flood plains.

  3. Adopt City regulations that prohibit alterations of the natural stream courses according to professional engineering recommendations.

  4. Adopt City regulations that prohibit development of impervious surfaces in flood plains.

  5. Adopt City regulations for citywide stormwater retention facilities in all new developments, including parking lots and other paved areas, in order to reduce flooding of combined sewers, streets, homes, and erosion of stream banks.

  6. Preserve, enhance, and expand the undeveloped flood plain along the Chattahoochee River as public open space.

Protection And Preservation Of The City's Wetlands

  1. Continue to comply with the Federal wetlands program under section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

  2. Strengthen protection of wetland areas.

  3. Identify significant wetland resources, both on public and private land.

Achievement Of Water Quality Standards In City Streams And Creeks As Outlined By The Georgia Environmental Protection Division

  1. Support and enforce the City's Erosion and Sedimentation ordinance.

  2. Continue to support the Citizen Stream Monitoring Program for education and training programs to monitor, report, and prevent stormwater runoff pollution and other sources of stream pollution.

  3. Produce stream monitoring data profiles and watershed surveys on designated streams in the Citizen Stream Monitoring Program.

  4. Develop mechanism for handling calls and acting on citizen reports of pollution sources of streams and creeks.

  5. Implement the long-term watershed monitoring program in coordination with the United States Geological Survey.

Protection, Enhancement Of Trees In The City's Urban Forest

  1. Provide adequate City resources for the management of the urban forest.
  2. Provide adequate City resources for the enforcement and implementation of the City of Atlanta Tree Ordinance.
  3. Implement and enforce the parking lot landscape ordinance.
  4. Implement and enforce the City of Atlanta Tree Ordinance.
  5. Implement an up-to-date computerized tree maintenance program for parks and public rights-of-ways.
  6. Develop an urban forest management plan for the City including planting, maintenance, protection, promotion, and staffing levels.
  7. Expand the Bureau of Parks Forestry Division staff to implement and promote the urban forest management plan.
  8. Update the existing Arboricultural Specifications and Standards of Practice.
  9. Develop a citywide streetscape master plan, including tree planting details and prioritized streetscape projects.
  10. Develop citywide streetscape specifications and standards as part of the above master plan.

Protection And Enhancement Of Wildlife And Native Plant Habitats

  1. Identify and protect adequate natural wildlife habitats and corridors.

  2. Identify and protect endangered, rare and native plant habitats.

Georgia Greenspace Program GOALS

The goal of the City of Atlanta for the Georgia Greenspace Program is to permanently protect at least 20 percent of the city’s geographic area as open greenspace that can be used for informal recreation and natural resource protection.  In an effort to meet the City’s 20 percent open greenspace goal, permanent protection will be sought on land types including Floodplains and Wetlands, Urban Forest Tracts, Greenways, Existing Nature Preserves, Other Existing Passive Parks, New Park Land, and Vacant/Undeveloped Land.

Goals identified under the Georgia Greenspace Program are as follows:

Where feasible:

  • Obtain conservation easements on newly acquired open space properties.
  • Revise the Comprehensive Development Plan where appropriate to provide policies for 1) showing open space protected by ordinance (such as floodplains and wetlands) on the Existing and Future Land Use Maps and 2) creating an “open space” zoning classification, that will also apply to those lands protected by ordinance.
  • Encourage donation of conservation easements on lands where development is restricted by existing ordinances.
  • Adopt amendments to strengthen existing tools such as more stringent floodplain protection.
  • Adopt a stream buffer ordinance to include protection of hydric soils, floodplain, and stream corridor wetlands.
  • Adopt an ordinance to prevent development on steep slopes.
  • Updated Parks Open Space and Greenways Plan to include conservation/acquisition strategy and identification of sensitive lands to be protected.
  • Obtain conservation easements on public properties including City parks.
  • Obtain conservation easements on greenways along streams under the City of Atlanta Greenway Acquisition Program.
  • Create open space mitigation banks.
  • Create mechanism for accepting and maintaining open space lands and conservation easements.
  • Develop appropriate incentives for the protection of open space.
  • Amend development codes to both reduce variances to open space requirements and increase opportunities to provide open space through development.
  • Integrate permanently protected open space and permanent stormwater BMPs.
  • Determine feasibility of creating an open space zoning classification in conjunction with a policy to calculate densities based upon “buildable area”.
  • Require open space set-a-sides as a condition for development projects receiving City funding.
  • Require mitigation for variances from open space requirements.

Achievement Of Air Quality Standards As Defined By The Federal Clean Air Act And State Air Quality Regulations

  1. Continue to support all programs and projects, at the state, local and regional level, which reduce air pollutants from stationary and non-stationary sources.

  2. Enhance the Smog Free Georgia Program in conjunction with the Clean Air campaign.

Energy

  1. Develop Sustainability Policy.

  2. Create Green Building Code and Encourage Green Buildings.

  3. Promote the use of solar and other renewable energy sources as a means of promoting sustainable development.