City Proposes New Design Standards For Walnut Ave Gateway Corridor

“The whole plan is that when you drive down Walnut Avenue into Dalton five years from now, it will make a statement.”

That’s the vision for the overall Corridor Improvement Project, as articulated by Ethan Calhoun of the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission. The project, which was started by the City of Dalton in 2020, aims to improve both the appearance and also the function of the Walnut Avenue and Rocky Face I-75 entry corridors into Dalton.

As part of the project, the City is set to propose a new set of design standards for West Walnut Avenue/Market Street area (technically referred to as Tax Allocation District 5, or TAD 5, area). The Gateway Corridor Overlay District Regulations, as they are being called, will be presented Monday night, February 28th, at a meeting of the Dalton/Whitfield Planning Commission. They’ll be considered by the Mayor and Council in March.

Photo caption: the area outlined in red is the TAD 5 district comprised of the primarily commerically zoned areas surrounding West Walnut Avenue

Permits for new development in the area have been under a moratorium since December 2021 to give city leaders time to enact new design rules. That moratorium will expire March 28th.

The new design standards would only be applicable in the primarily commercially zoned areas in the TAD 5 district, enhancing the design ordinances already in place throughout the city. The “overlay district” for the gateway corridor area is a similar concept to the special design standards in place in the downtown Dalton district.

“In the downtown district there are additional requirements to ensure the integrity of the downtown is upheld and this is kind of a similar ideology in applying a set of additional standards to address the physical appearance of that area and in this case create more consistency with development,” Calhoun said.

The proposed design standards for the TAD 5 district include regulations for everything from business signage to the different types of roofs and surface materials for buildings in the district. There are standards for landscaping, parking, and utilities, calling for underground installation.

“The reason we’re doing it is this, number one, Dalton’s never had any plans, standards, or anything else for that area,” said David Pennington, Dalton’s mayor. “I’ve said for the last few years, we don’t look like the home of a ten billion dollar industry, it’s time to make this community look like the home of a ten billion dollar industry.”

“It’s a higher standard than our traditional development codes throughout the rest of the city, because of the fact that it is a gateway corridor,” said Dalton city administrator Andrew Parker. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression and that’s why the city has put together a plan to make this a more attractive corridor. And not just make it attractive, this is an opportunity to spur that corridor to achieve its highest economic potential.”

One example of the proposed development standards is that free-standing business signage will be required to be ground-based monument signage, no higher than 15 feet tall for individual businesses or 30 feet tall for directories of multiple businesses sharing a campus. Tall “skyscraper” pylon signs will not be allowed. Temporary signage will also not be allowed, including feather signs, grand opening signs, sale signs, etc. A provision does allow for temporary real estate signage.

Angled architectural style roofs are called for in the building design standards, with flat roofed buildings still allowed but with rules requiring roof-top equipment such as air conditioning units to be shielded from street view. The design standards call for surface materials such as architectural metal, stone, masonry, or wood for building exteriors. Materials such as sheet metal or exposed concrete bricks are prohibited.

The regulations also list land uses that will not be allowed in the Gateway Corridor Overlay District. Prohibited uses include adult entertainment establishments, car washes, truck stops, and storage facilities among a list of others. The complete set of the proposed regulations can be viewed by clicking here.

If the regulations are adopted, the City Council will appoint a design review board for the overlay district. That board would evaluate project submissions for conformity to the design rules in the district and also evaluate any requests for variances.

“There is still ample room for creativity within the proposed design standards, they’re not overly cumbersome,” Parker said.

Of course, there are already buildings in the overlay district with design features, signage, or even business types that are not allowable under the proposed rules. Generally speaking, those uses would be allowed to continue as long as the businesses remain in continuous use. At the point when they cease to secure occupational tax certificates, the nonconforming use would no longer be allowed.

“As far as the big signs go, we’re looking at it creatively,” Parker said. “If it’s an existing sign that would become non-conforming, we hope to phase those out over a period of time working with each property owner. What works in our favor is a lot of these national brands, they’ll do a renovation project every three to five years, that’s just part of their business model. So, as they come to us to re-purpose their site that gives us an opportunity to bring each site into compliance with these standards.”

The new design standards are just one part of the overall plan to remake the Walnut Avenue corridor into a more welcoming front door for Dalton. Construction is set to begin later this year on a new streetscape renovation to Market Street, and plans are being finalized for the construction of a new road connecting Market Street to Dug Gap Road to improve traffic flow in the area. Streetscape renovations to Walnut Avenue and other improvements to the area are also on the drawing board.

“Our sales tax collections which are very good anyway for our community, this will give it rocket fuel as far as attracting different retailers, different entertainment businesses, different restaurants and things like that,” Mayor Pennington said. “This is an investment, it isn’t an expenditure, it’s an investment. And we hope that the developers, the property owners that exist out there now will join in and work with us on this project.”

The Dalton City Council is expected to review an ordinance to enact the new standards with a first reading at their meeting March 7th. The council could then vote on adoption of the standards after a second reading at their meeting March 21st.

Comments regarding the design standards can be sent to City of Dalton Communications Director Bruce Frazier at bfrazier@daltonga.gov.