Neighbors hope petition, campaign will squash townhome proposal

Northwest of Midtown, an infill townhome proposal has rankled some Bolton neighbors who fear it will destroy nature and viable homes, raise taxes, dilute neighborhood charm, and clog streets with vehicles. They’ve recently started an online petition and yard-sign campaign to drive home concerns. 

Developers pitching the Bolton townhomes, meanwhile, contend the project will inject a growing and increasingly walkable part of Atlanta with relatively attainable housing the market needs. Despite two recent rejections from neighborhood boards, they’re working with the city and other agencies to move revised plans forward, undeterred.

Is it a case of NIMBYism run amok, or reasonable neighborly concerns in a swiftly changing area? Or something in between? 

The concept by Middle Housing Company—an Atlanta-based developer founded in 2020 that’s behind new duplexes in Howell Station, a 10-unit townhome project along Metropolitan Parkway, and cottages elsewhere in Bolton, among other projects—was first hatched in March. 

Initially, it called for 39 townhomes to replace two single-family houses at 1905 and 1911 La Dawn Lane; when combined with smaller adjacent, vacant parcels, the site would total about 2.6 acres. The properties in question are tucked just west of Marietta Boulevard, near the original Scofflaw Brewing Co. location, situated next to large single-family homes and the Clayburne Place condo complex. 

The site isn’t without unique perks. 

The entire western border is the Whetstone Creek Trail, a leafy, two-mile PATH Foundation rails-to-trails project that will become part of the Centennial Olympic Park to Silver Comet Trail connection in coming years. The site is also about two blocks from Westside Village, a mixed-use project opened five years ago that counts a Publix, Spiller Park Coffee, and a number of other eateries and retailers. The latter is meant to serve as a commercial lynchpin for the so-called Upper Westside district.  

Derek Turner, Middle Housing Company’s founder and president, says his team met with neighbors and conducted surveys with 100 respondents earlier this year, before drawing up townhome plans and seeking rezoning that would allow for medium-density development. 

Pushback against those plans started before a Bolton Neighborhood committee meeting in June, during which a majority of participants voted against the townhomes. Ditto for an Neighborhood Planning Unit-D meeting that month; Turner estimates the vote was 60 percent against his project there. An online “Stop Rezoning” petition fighting the townhomes had collected 173 signatures, as of this writing. 

Bolton resident Paul Swicord, who lives directly across the street from the properties in question, says the current houses are in fine condition and reflect low-density charms that make the residential enclave unique. A website naysayers established states neighbors are “outraged” by the proposal, pointing to fears the new buildings and paved lots would trigger stormwater problems with nearby wetlands, among other issues.  

“I would go from looking at nature to two years of construction, before having a three-story wall to stare at,” Swicord said via email this week. Prior to future hearings on the matter, “we will make another big push for more signatures,” he said. 

According to Swicord, the neighborhood has been supportive of high-density development in the past, including the BRYKS Upper Westside project with its nearly 600 apartments. The difference, he says, is that those dense nodes have better access to main thoroughfares. 

“This will add 100 cars onto our limited-capacity neighborhood street” where afterschool and rush-hour traffic commonly back up now, said Swicord. “This [also] has the potential of escalating our home values and increasing taxes. We have elderly and fixed-income neighbors that may be forced to leave what was to be their forever home.”  

The Bolton townhome project was scheduled to come before Atlanta’s Zoning Review Board in early August, but Turner’s team has hit pause and headed back to the drawing board, to an extent. Middle Housing Company has yet to close on the La Dawn Drive properties, pending the outcome of the rezoning push. 

Within the next week, Turner plans to submit a revised site plan to the Office of Zoning. Officials there requested he resubmit the project for a classification called Planned Development—Housing, or PD-H, that sets different standards, limits the amount of buildable square footage, and helps ensure developers stick to promised plans, said Turner.   

In response to earlier community feedback, and following meetings with PATH Foundation and Department of Watershed Management officials, Turner said the original site plan has been revised to include “key improvements” without losing “attainable” housing. (Tentative plans call for the townhomes to start at roughly 1,800 square feet, with prices from the high $500,000s, per Turner.) 

Changes include the addition of a small public park, a PATH spur-trail connection through the site to Westside Village, stormwater fixes, and enhancements along the existing trail, both aesthetic and for pedestrian safety. Turner plans to take the revised, 38-home plans back to both the neighborhood association and NPU soon, though developers are only required to revisit the NPU, he said. 

“We’re doing it in good faith,” said Turner, “and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Turner said his company’s goal, should all go well with zoning, would be to break ground on the 38-home project in the second quarter of 2026. For the time being, he’s actually renting and living in one of the La Dawn Drive homes in question, hoping to ride out the storm. 

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