Public Hearing: YES ☒ NO ☐ Department: Planning & Sustainability
SUBJECT:
Title
COMMISSION DISTRICT(S): Commission District 03 Super District 07
Application of Avondale Church of Christ c/o Battle Law, P.C. to rezone property from the R-75 (Residential Medium Lot-75) zoning district to the OI (Office Institutional) zoning district to allow for an existing place of worship, at 4017 Memorial Drive.
Body
PETITION NO: N12-2026-0534 Z-26-1248010
PROPOSED USE: Place of worship.
LOCATION: 4017 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Georgia 30032
PARCEL NO. : 15 231 06 003
INFO. CONTACT: John Reid, Sr. Planner
PHONE NUMBER: 404-371-2155
PURPOSE:
Application of Avondale Church of Christ c/o Battle Law, P.C. to rezone property from the R-75 (Residential Medium Lot-75) zoning district to the OI (Office Institutional) zoning district to allow for an existing place of worship.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
COMMUNITY COUNCIL: (April 2026) Approval.
PLANNING COMMISSION: (May 5, 2026) Pending.
PLANNING STAFF: (May 2026) Approval.
STAFF ANALYSIS: The applicant requests a rezoning from R-75 (Single-Family Residential) to O-I (Office Institutional) to expand an existing church by 4,139 square feet to create a new fellowship space, and to raise an existing cover over the entrance drop-off to better accommodate large vehicles. Based on review of county records, a church has been on the property prior to 1976 without a SLUP. Therefore, it appears that the existing church is a legal non-conforming use. There are several churches in the surrounding area, and most of those are zoned O-I. The applicant seeks to rezone the subject property to O-I to be more consistent with those churches and to allow the church to convert to a legally conforming structure. The proposed building expansion in the existing open courtyard area will seamlessly blend the adjacent portions of the building to the north and south and will not extend beyond those existing portions of the building either horizontally or vertically. The fellowship hall addition will trigger a parking requirement of 103 parking spaces; since the site currently contains 169 parking spaces the project complies with the Zoning Ordinance. The existing canopy needs to be raised for public safety reasons to allow tall vans to safely drive under the canopy to drop off and pick up church patrons. The proposed canopy is 15 feet tall and will not be taller than the roof of the existing building. It appears that the proposal is generally consistent with Commercial Redevelopment Corridor (CRC) Character Area calling for the redevelopment of corridors. The current R-75 single-family zoning district is not an allowable zoning district within CRC. However, the proposed O-I district is an allowable zoning district within CRC, so changing zoning districts from R-75 to O-I will result in the property becoming more compliant with the CRC Character Area. The proposed church is consistent with the office and institutional uses in the surrounding vicinity. Additionally, the O-I zoning is consistent with the Office (O-I) zoning to the west and the mixture of O-I, C-1 (Local Commercial), and multi-family (MR-2) zoning districts in the surrounding area bounded by Memorial Drive, Covington Highway, and Covington Drive. In summary, the applicant’s proposed place of worship is a permitted use in the O-I (Office-Institutional) district subject to rezone approval. Based on the modest scale of operations, adequate on-site parking, and enhancing public safety with a taller canopy, it appears that the proposal can operate without adverse impacts to adjacent properties. Therefore, based on review of Section 7.4.6 (Rezone criteria), Staff recommends “Approval”.
PLANNING COMMISSION VOTE: (May 5, 2026) Pending.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL VOTE/RECOMMENDATION: (April 2026) Approval 8-0-0.