http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=739
Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU)
What is a Neighborhood Planning Unit?
The City of Atlanta is divided into twenty-five Neighborhood Planning Units or NPUs, which
are citizen advisory councils that make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on
zoning, land use, and other planning issues. The NPU system was established in 1974 to provide
an opportunity for citizens to participate actively in the Comprehensive Development Plan,
which is the city's vision for the next five, ten, and fifteen years. It is also used as a way
for citizens to receive information concerning all functions of city government. The system
enables citizens to express ideas and comment on city plans and proposals while assisting the
city in developing plans that best meet the needs of their communities.
Which NPU do I live in?
The map below shows all twenty-five Neighborhood Planning Units in the City of Atlanta. You
can find your neighborhood by looking at an alphabetical list of neighborhoods that shows which
NPU each neighborhood belongs to or by looking at an alphabetical list of NPUs and the
neighborhoods they contain. You can also click on the map below to see a more detailed map of
the neighborhoods within each NPU.
When and where does my NPU meet?
Agendas Page - This list of meeting times and places for each NPU also includes links to the
agenda for the next meeting. Each NPU meets on a monthly basis to consider community
concerns. Membership is open to anyone 18 years or older whose primary residence is within
the NPU, as well as to any corporation, organization, institution, or agency which owns property
or has a place of business within the NPU.
Links
 Map of NPU's with Council Districts
 Map of NPU's with Police Zones
 Map of NPU's wiith Zip Codes
 E-mail List Sign Up - Add your name to the e-mail list to begin receiving monthly NPU
notices. You can also help the City save on postage by having your name removed from
our regular mailing list.
 NPU Contact Information - Find out how to get in touch with the chairperson, city
planner, and zoning contact for each Neighborhood Planning Unit.
 Directory of Neighborhood Organizations - If your neighborhood organization isn't listed
in the directory, please fill out a registration form.
 Neighborhoods USA - A non-profit organization committed to building and
strengthening neighborhood organizations.
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They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.
Taken from Wikipedia on 4/20/13
Neighborhood planning unit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Neighborhood Planning Unit is a neighborhood-scale governmental structure used in the
city of Atlanta, Georgia.[1] The system was established in 1974 by Atlanta's first black mayor,
Maynard Holbrook Jackson. His aim was to ensure that citizens, particularly those who had been
historically disenfranchised, would be in a position to comment on the structure of their
communities, and to ensure that the citizens would not have this ability stripped of them by
politicians who found an involved and engaged public inconvenient, Mayor Jackson had the
NPU System placed within the City Charter, which can only be changed by the Georgia
Legislature. That same section of the Charter also contains the Office of the Mayor as well as the
Atlanta City Council.
Atlanta has had a Neighborhood Planning Unit System since 1974.[2] There are 25 NPUs, lettered
from A to Z, except U. Each NPU represents the citizens in a specified geographic area. Each
NPU meets once a month to review applications for rezoning properties, varying existing zoning
ordinances for certain properties, applications for liquor licenses, applications for festivals and
parades, any changes to fees charged by the City, any changes to the City's Comprehensive
Development Plan, and any amendments to the City's Zoning Ordinances. Once an NPU has
voted on an item, that vote is then submitted to the relevant body which makes the ultimate
determination with regard to that issue as the official view of the community on a topic.
NPUs operate according to a varied set of guidelines. Each NPU is permitted to create its own
bylaws and the only requirement is that once a year the bylaws are voted on and every resident
and business owner is permitted to vote on those bylaws. Some NPUs permit anyone to vote
while other NPUs operate in a representative governmental fashion with only elected
representatives voting on the issues at hand. Given the variances of demography within the City
of Atlanta, the idea that a one-size fits all system of community governance would successfully
reflect each community's view is unrealistic. Therefore, NPUs are permitted to operate as the
citizens see fit.
Each NPU is assigned a City of Atlanta Planner who attends the monthly meetings. Planners are
charged with recording official votes, responding to questions about issues of Land Use &
Zoning, to present the various items that are sent by the City government for NPU review, and to
assure that meetings are reasonably orderly and moderately democratic. The NPUs are staffed
entirely by citizen volunteers who receive no compensation for their efforts. NPUs are not given
any funding by the City for supplies or other needs.
Each NPU sends a representative to the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board, which is a city-wide
entity that was created contemporaneously with the NPU System. The Board addresses issues of
city-wide concern and sends its recommendations to the City Council and/or the Mayor
depending on the issue being addressed. The Board makes various appointments to City
Commissions and Boards on behalf of the citizens.