Shirley Place’s street retirement advances—but the $1 housing transfer waits

Two measures tied to the proposed Verbena Gardens affordable-housing redevelopment now have different statuses. Atlanta’s Transportation Committee voted 4–0 on Oct. 28 to recommend removing a portion of Shirley Place NW from the public street system. The separate proposed $1 transfer to the Metro Atlanta Land Bank remains held in committee.⁠[1][2][3]

The abandonment measure, Ordinance 26-O-1535, appears on the consent agenda for City Council’s Nov. 2 meeting at 1 p.m. Those items come forward for adoption together unless pulled for discussion. The committee’s favorable-as-amended recommendation is not final approval of the abandonment.⁠[2][4]

The proposal would change the right-of-way’s legal status—not create a new physical closure. The ordinance says Shirley Place has been fenced off to vehicles and pedestrians since Verbena Gardens was demolished because it no longer provides access to occupied or actively used properties. Existing public and private utility easements would remain in effect.⁠[2]

As we explained in our report on the held $1 transfer, the Community Development/Human Services Committee held Ordinance 26-O-1590 on Oct. 27. That proposal would convey the city’s interest in the same Shirley Place parcel to the land bank. Removing public-street status and conveying the city’s property interest are separate actions.⁠[1][2]

The transfer ordinance says LDG Development and its affiliate, Verbena Family Development, intend to build more than 200 affordable rentals across a larger assemblage called Verbena Gardens or Verbena Street Redevelopment. Shirley Place would be one piece of that site—not the location of all 200-plus homes by itself.⁠[1]

The proposed deed would preserve a city right to recover the parcel if permanent affordable housing does not receive a city-issued certificate of occupancy within three years of conveyance. That clock would start with the transfer—not with the street-abandonment recommendation.⁠[2]