Smyrna council adopts downtown redevelopment plan, final report lays out implementation expectations

SMYRNA, Ga. — Smyrna’s city council on Monday night officially adopted an ambitious redevelopment plan that would aim to transform a large portion of the city’s existing downtown footprint.

A Facebook post by the city government said at Monday night’s council meeting, the final report was presented to the mayor and council and Councilmember Travis Lindley “recognized and thanked staff, consultants and the community members who participated in the process, assisted with meetings, and encouraged citizen involvement that provided for the robust community input that informed the Smyrna Downtown Redevelopment Plan.”

The final report maintains what was released back in November and, importantly, lays out in detail the steps the city will need to take from here on out to implement the redevelopment process.

The plan, if fully realized, would add 350 new homes to the area as well as a hotel/office, small food hall, greatly expanded mixed-use space and a bike/foot path. It would primarily transform two large parcels of land next to the existing downtown footprint. 

The city and its consulting partners have been careful to note that the plan is in many ways aspirational — the process of finding a development partner and putting actual work into motion will necessarily include concessions, compromises and changes to the plan.

“What you all see built on the site will almost surely not look like the massing that I’m showing you today,” Luis Calvo, a representative with planning and urban design firm MKSK, told residents at a meeting unveiling the plan back in November.

The executive summary presented in the final report Monday night additionally said the plan is “not a development proposal” but rather, “it establishes a shared vision and set of community priorities that will guide future decision-making, including the selection of development partners and the refinement of concepts into a built development project.”

The plan includes several core features — large new mixed-use and residential developments on either side of King Street where parking lots and ball fields currently sit; a “Jonquil Mile” bike/foot path extending up King Street and around the new developments (connecting to new pathways already built around the north end of the downtown footprint by the city library and community center); a boutique hotel or office building to go on top of an old out-of-use church building at the corner of Memorial Place and Church Street; and an event/green space across from that site next to the church’s historic chapel, which would be preserved into the redevelopment design.

In its current state, the parcels slated for development include the Smyrna First Baptist Church complex and its parking lot, west of Atlanta Road, and a further plot across King Street that includes another parking lot and the ball fields. The city purchased the land from the church last year for just shy of $16 million, and the church will move to a new location sometime in the next 2-3 years, the same time development would be slated to begin.

The overall vision for the site can be shown below, first in what was included in the final plan on Monday night and then what was included in November. It shows very little change between what was presented to residents and what was adopted, except for the potential for a hotel site to be considered alternatively as an office space.

Below, you can see what was included in the adopted report as an outline for implementing the plan:

Among the important notes: The city will now need to find a development partner “capable of bringing the community’s priorities and the plan’s vision to life.” It concedes that, “The conceptual framework and guiding principles established through this planning process are intended to inform, not predetermine, the eventual development outcome.”

The report states the city must decide on one of three procurement processes, begin prep work for the public realm portions of the plan and infrastructure changes — such as updating the city’s downtown urban design standards and re-zoning the 9-acre parcels — and then eventually, on a medium term (1-3 years) timeline select a developer.

The city also targets a memorandum of understanding with a developer “regarding the maintenance, activation, and programming of new public and open spaces in the 9-acre site” in the medium term. 

The implementation outline also takes into account which parts of the plan will be prioritized in working with a developer — first among those “the community’s expectation for meaningful amounts of publicly accessible green spaces” and secondly “high-quality architecture and design, particularly at the street level and along public-facing façades.” Other priorities included promoting small, local, independent businesses and providing a mix of businesses that serve families/range of ages.

These priorities were determined based on feedback and votes that were provided at the November community meeting.

A rendering for the King Street mixed-use redevelopment, rendering of the reimagined chapel space, and photos of bike/foot paths in Indianapolis and Carmel, Indiana that give a sense of how the “Jonquil Mile” would look have been included in the reports.

The King Street developments would be about five stories high, officials have previously said.

The plan would include parking decks for each of the two new mixed-use builds, though the city anticipates reduced vehicle demand in the area with more bikeability and walkability built in.

There would also be expanded sidewalks/outdoor dining space on West Spring Street, which is the current spine through the existing Market Village downtown development (that would also coincide with a narrowing of the current green median).

You can see an overview of the existing site below.