Atlanta listed as 5th worst commute time in nation and ranks 9th in people working from home.

The City of Dunwoody is in the midst of rewriting our Zoning Code Regulations and one of the issues that we will need to face head on in the coming months is reviewing the "home occupation" regulations.  We may want to make it easier to allow people to work legally from their home as long as it is done in such away as to not denigrate the feel of our single family neighborhoods.  How can these regulations be softened to match the real world that many of my neighbors are facing today or is this like the proverbial "Chicken" issue where it is better to believe that it is not happening at all?  If addressed, this home occupation change would also need to look at the issues of noise, hours, signage, business types and the possible full time conversion of single family residences (rental homes looking for a tenant?) into business locations where businesses were never intended.

The article "A Look at Commuting Using the Latest Census Data" on the Newgeography.com website quoted the stats below.  I believe that by not accepting the reality that our Atlanta commute times will be getting longer over time as the metropolitan area grows, while also experiencing technological leaps in internet service to allow office work to be effectively done at the home; is like sticking our heads in the sand while forcing those who work from the home to wear a "Scarlet Letter" of being illegal because a customer may stop by to chat from time to time. 

 I don't have all the answers but this is a community issue being worked on by the community at large where everyone is invited to participate in the rewrite of the zoning ordinance.  The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 2nd and the meeting will most likely be discussing the 2nd module of the rewrite which is directed at the Administration and Procedures to be followed.  If you are interested in working on the rewrite by looking at the broad ordinance or have a single focused change in mind, I hope you come on October 2nd and make your wishes known. Thanks.

Working from Home
 

Rank	Metro Area	2011
1	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	62,593 (7.1%)
2	Raleigh-Cary, NC	37,030 (6.6%)
3	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	67,223 (6.4%)
4	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	131,029 (6.4%)
5	San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA	89,547 (6.3%)
6	Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO	76,025 (5.9%)
7	Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ	105,570 (5.8%)
8	Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA	52,143 (5.8%)
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA	132,979 (5.5%)
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	87,839 (5.2%)

Commute Times

Rank	Metro Area	2011
1	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA	34.9
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	34.5
3	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	31.0
4	Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI	30.9
5	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA	30.6
6	Baltimore-Towson, MD	30.3
7	Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH	29.2
8	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	29.2
9	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA	28.6
10	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	28.5