Austell adopts downtown overlay allowing taller mixed-use buildings

Austell City Council approved a new downtown zoning overlay June 2, changing the development rules for the city’s Central Downtown area and allowing mixed-use buildings of up to five stories.

The action, reported June 3, creates an Infill Overlay District also called the Downtown Overlay District. The new framework is intended to give residents, businesses, property owners and developers clearer direction about how downtown redevelopment can take place.

What the overlay allows

Under the approved overlay, mixed-use buildings in the Central Downtown area may reach five stories. The permitted format places retail, restaurants or offices on the ground floor, with residential units above.

That changes the regulatory framework for projects in the area, but it does not mean construction has started or that a particular development has been approved. The available reporting does not tie a specific project to the overlay.

The change also does not cover every Austell parcel. The reported five-story allowance specifically applies to the Central Downtown area.

Connection to city planning

Austell’s council aligned the overlay with the city’s 2021 Livable Centers Initiative study and its 2022 Comprehensive Plan. Those planning documents are cited as the basis for bringing downtown zoning into line with the city’s broader direction for the area.

For property owners and developers, the overlay establishes a clearer set of expectations for potential downtown projects. For residents and local businesses, it sets the rules for a building format that combines commercial activity and housing in the same structure.

The approved action is a zoning change, not a guarantee that new apartments, shops, restaurants or offices will open. The source material does not provide a complete overlay map, the ordinance number, the effective date or all of the applicable dimensional standards.

What comes next

Austell’s official 2026 planning and zoning calendar lists regular planning and zoning and City Council meetings for development-related matters. The calendar includes a City Council meeting scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026, at the Threadmill Complex.

That meeting is the next known council date identified in the approved sources, but the sources do not say that a specific overlay project or follow-up vote is scheduled for that date. Any future development proposal would still need to proceed through the city’s applicable review process.

For now, the June 2 vote is the material change: downtown zoning now allows the possibility of taller, vertically integrated mixed-use buildings in the Central Downtown area, while the city’s formal planning calendar continues its regular review schedule.