Livable Communities Coalition Members Find New Home as ULI Atlanta Council

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ATLANTA – May 20, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — ULI Atlanta, an Urban Land Institute (ULI) district council, is enhancing its commitment to the development of livable communities through progressive transit-oriented development by establishing a council called the ULI Atlanta Livable Communities Council (Council). The Council will be assuming the mission of the Livable Communities Coalition (LCC), a nonprofit metro Atlanta advocacy group formed in 2005, to promote smart urban growth.

David Allman, who has served as LCC board chair and is also the incoming board chair at ULI Atlanta, said working within the ULI structure makes “perfect sense going forward.” In addition to Allman, the other LCC leaders, as well as most of its members, are expected to become active leaders and participants in the ULI Atlanta Council.

“This is a very logical step in the evolution of LCC,” Allman said. “The coalition has a great track record of accomplishments, but considering the growth and transportation challenges our region faces in the coming years, it made more sense for ULI Atlanta to take on this important mission. We also recognized that LCC and ULI are both focusing on walkable communities and transit-oriented development.”

LCC was formed in 2005 as a result of the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s “Quality Growth Task Force, which consisted of 50 diverse representatives from local governments, the state legislature, businesses, developers, universities, and civic and environmental groups. It has worked to support greater density, walkability, housing choices and mixed-use developments in appropriate regional and transportation centers. LCC Deputy Director John Maximuk will play an important role with the ULI Council and continue to serve as co-convener of the recently formed Atlanta TOD Collaborative.

ULI Atlanta, with more than 800 members, is one of the largest and most active district councils of the worldwide Urban Land Institute. Offering 20 high-quality educational programs a year and Technical Advisory Panels stocked with expert members who advise local communities on growth opportunities, ULI Atlanta’s Council will focus on transit-oriented development, a specialty of ULI.

“As ULI Atlanta updated our strategic plan over the past 18 months, we realized our priorities were right in line with LCC’s mission and agenda,” said Jeff DuFresne, ULI Atlanta’s executive director. “With David coming on board as our chair, he was able to envision a plan for strengthening ULI Atlanta’s commitment to work toward smarter growth planning for our region. Having the Council headquartered at ULI Atlanta will allow us to expand our regional leadership in the coming years.”

“With much of our work in the past few years geared toward ensuring 52% of the transportation referendum project list was focused on transit and turning out transit-friendly voters for the referendum, we realized we needed an organization like ULI Atlanta to take this work to the next level,” said Jim Stokes, executive director of LCC. “We’re proud of our record as LCC worked to implement smart growth in over a dozen communities and institutions culminating in the Fair Share for Transit and Fast Track Forward campaigns that promoted transit in metro Atlanta over the past three years.

“We are excited to see ULI carry the ball in support of innovative transit-oriented development for the greater good of our growing region,” said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. “As our economy turns around and as development rebounds, we will need ULI Atlanta’s leadership, guidance, and counsel on these issues more than ever.”

“In the end, it was all about efficient use of limited resources,” Allman said. “As stewards of the region’s smart growth, the LCC board realized this opportunity to work within ULI was an opportunity to collect the best minds under the same organizational umbrella. It’s the next best logical step for all concerned.”

About the Urban Land Institute of Atlanta

ULI Atlanta is a district council of the national Urban Land Institute. ULI is a non-profit education and resource group supported by a diverse membership base of experts. Their mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. (http://www.uli.org)

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