Jeff Green, principal at Clarion Associates, presented Installment 2 of Cobb County’s draft Unified Development Code on the county’s recently posted website, describing a comprehensive rewrite intended to simplify and modernize five decades of zoning rules.

The draft reorganizes zoning districts, consolidates repeated rules and adds illustrations and cross‑links so users can navigate the digital document from a single table of contents. "We want to provide the county with an updated, reorganized, streamlined, and easier to use set of development regulations that will serve the county well for decades to come," Green said during the presentation.

Consultant Christian Neuschmidt said the team followed three principles while drafting: say things once to reduce duplication; improve the digital usability of the document with clickable cross‑references; and use plain language to remove archaic legalese. As an example, the consultants showed long existing district entries (8–14 pages) restructured into two‑page district spreads that link to use and development sections.

The team emphasized that the draft generally carries forward existing substantive rules for single‑family districts (minimum lot sizes, heights and densities), with clarifications to resolve contradictions in the current ordinance. "We’ve done our best to keep single‑family districts exactly as they are right now," Neuschmidt said.

Installment 2 covers zoning districts and uses; development standards such as parking, landscaping and buffers will be drafted and released as Installment 3. Green and Neuschmidt urged public review of the posted draft and invited feedback through cobcountyudc.com and an online survey. The schedule also includes a testing phase in which staff will apply the draft UDC to sample sites before the public adoption phase.