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Box 5, Folder 9, Document 18
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Report of Legal Panel
December 9, i968
In brief, the achievements and activities of the Legal Panel
in the year to date have been as follows:
(1) Advocacy, drafting, and passage by the Atlanta
School Board of a local constitutional amendment to allow the
City of Atlanta, through its local School Board, to lease school
buildings for a term longer than that of the City Council. The
research on this project was done by Freeman Hutton and the Chairman
of this Committee, and was presented by the Chairman to the School
Board on June 28, 1968. The School Board passed the concept of
leasing school buildings from private developers for a long-term in
principal, and directed Mr. A. C. Latimore, the school board attorney,
in conjunction with the Legal Panel to draft the specific local
constitutional amendment,
The advantage of this local constitutional amendment
would be that school facilities could be provided in a low-cost
housing project in the form of rental payments over a term of years,
thus alleviating the need of the School Board to construct a school
facility at high initial costs, and thus providing the project with
necessary community facilities, The most oft-used excuse in opposition
to zoning property for low-cost housing is that no school facilities
would be available; an objection which would become moot after passage
of the constitutional amendment, in that the School Board would lease
with little diminution in its bonds' credit.
Upon completion of the drafting, the amendment will
then be submitted to the School Board sometime in early 1969, for
formal approval so that it can be readied for the 1970 Legislature
and subsequent referendum. As a practical matter, the leasing
arrangements in Urban areas will probably be required to contain an
option to purchase vested in the School Board, to circumvent HUD
requirements, in that City credit against Federal Funds could only
be allowed in structures which were a public facility; according to
Mr. Neil Zittrauer, of the Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Renewal Assistance Administration.
(2) The Legal Panel, through its Chairman, drafted the
Package Zoning Proposal, presented to the Board of Aldermen on August
2, 1968, and assisted in the publicity surrounding the presentation
of said proposal on August 2, 1968,
(3) The Legal Panel, through its Chairman, served on an
Ad Hoc Committee, reviewing the total purposes of the Committee. This
Ad Hoc Committee reviewed a report of Colonel Jones, dated February 7,
1968, and made its comments to the full Housing Resources Committee,
(4) Mr. Freeman Hutton delivered a report on the Housing
and Urban Development Act of 1968, At the conclusion of the report,
Mr. Hutton was charged with the responsibility of working with Mr.
Bill Gates to compile a detailed analysis of the Act and its affect
on Housing Resources Committee activities.
The Legal Panel is presently working on Housing Code enforcement,
inability of certain slum dwellers to obtain building permits in non-
conforming areas of the City, as well as its continued analysis of the
Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and continued participation
in the School Board amendment involving leasing.
Archer D. Smith, III
Chairman, Legal Panel
December 9, i968
In brief, the achievements and activities of the Legal Panel
in the year to date have been as follows:
(1) Advocacy, drafting, and passage by the Atlanta
School Board of a local constitutional amendment to allow the
City of Atlanta, through its local School Board, to lease school
buildings for a term longer than that of the City Council. The
research on this project was done by Freeman Hutton and the Chairman
of this Committee, and was presented by the Chairman to the School
Board on June 28, 1968. The School Board passed the concept of
leasing school buildings from private developers for a long-term in
principal, and directed Mr. A. C. Latimore, the school board attorney,
in conjunction with the Legal Panel to draft the specific local
constitutional amendment,
The advantage of this local constitutional amendment
would be that school facilities could be provided in a low-cost
housing project in the form of rental payments over a term of years,
thus alleviating the need of the School Board to construct a school
facility at high initial costs, and thus providing the project with
necessary community facilities, The most oft-used excuse in opposition
to zoning property for low-cost housing is that no school facilities
would be available; an objection which would become moot after passage
of the constitutional amendment, in that the School Board would lease
with little diminution in its bonds' credit.
Upon completion of the drafting, the amendment will
then be submitted to the School Board sometime in early 1969, for
formal approval so that it can be readied for the 1970 Legislature
and subsequent referendum. As a practical matter, the leasing
arrangements in Urban areas will probably be required to contain an
option to purchase vested in the School Board, to circumvent HUD
requirements, in that City credit against Federal Funds could only
be allowed in structures which were a public facility; according to
Mr. Neil Zittrauer, of the Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Renewal Assistance Administration.
(2) The Legal Panel, through its Chairman, drafted the
Package Zoning Proposal, presented to the Board of Aldermen on August
2, 1968, and assisted in the publicity surrounding the presentation
of said proposal on August 2, 1968,
(3) The Legal Panel, through its Chairman, served on an
Ad Hoc Committee, reviewing the total purposes of the Committee. This
Ad Hoc Committee reviewed a report of Colonel Jones, dated February 7,
1968, and made its comments to the full Housing Resources Committee,
(4) Mr. Freeman Hutton delivered a report on the Housing
and Urban Development Act of 1968, At the conclusion of the report,
Mr. Hutton was charged with the responsibility of working with Mr.
Bill Gates to compile a detailed analysis of the Act and its affect
on Housing Resources Committee activities.
The Legal Panel is presently working on Housing Code enforcement,
inability of certain slum dwellers to obtain building permits in non-
conforming areas of the City, as well as its continued analysis of the
Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and continued participation
in the School Board amendment involving leasing.
Archer D. Smith, III
Chairman, Legal Panel
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