Over the past two decades, Decatur, Georgia, has met many of their smart growth objectives — mixed-use buildings fronting walkable sidewalks, consistent streetscape standards, and the like — through a careful manipulation of their Euclidean zoning code. Largely successful, these efforts have fostered considerable downtown development in line with community goals. But that said, conversations held during the city’s 2010 Strategic Planning sessions revealed a collective desire for further fine-tuning in some key regulatory areas. Most notably: parking, downtown/residential transitions, accessory dwellings, and urban agriculture.

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