Tree fees threaten Cascade Road ALDI plan, waiver proposal says

A roughly 20,000-square-foot ALDI is proposed for 3460 Cascade Road SW—but a pending Atlanta ordinance says about $800,000 in added tree-removal costs would make the development economically infeasible.⁠[1]

Councilmembers Wayne Martin and Andrea L. Boone are sponsoring Ordinance 26-O-1597 to waive the project's monetary tree-recompense requirement. That would not be a blanket exemption from the city's tree-protection rules: planting standards for commercial development, parking lots and street trees would still apply.⁠[1][2]

The $800,000 figure is the draft's estimate of the increase in project costs under the new tree rules—not a stated total value of the proposed waiver. The legislation would waive the monetary calculation requirement rather than authorize a fixed-dollar reduction.⁠[1]

The draft describes a zoning complication behind the request. The development spans several parcels in different zoning districts, with maximum per-acre tree charges varying by zoning category. Consolidating and rezoning the property before obtaining permits would jeopardize financing and likely cost the project its grocery tenant, the ordinance asserts.⁠[1]

The legislation makes a food-access case for the exception, citing the mayor's Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative and its emphasis on grocery options along corridors including Cascade and Campbellton roads.⁠[1]

The City Council referred the measure without objection on Oct. 19; that was not approval of the waiver. It is scheduled for the Community Development/Human Services Committee at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. For now, this is a proposal to remove a claimed financial obstacle—not an approved fee break or a grocery-store opening announcement.⁠[1][2]