Land development - I don't know where to start

[Marietou P.]

We have a couple of properties in Atlanta, Georgia, in very desirable neighborhoods. My brother and I got really lucky during some tax sales. 

Property 1 is 14.7 acres but has two easements: a gas utility running on the site, maybe 3% of the property, and a sewer line that splits the property in half.  The property is also currently zoned as AG1, which also limits us to building 1 property per acre. We are thinking of building some mini mansions once we change the zoning to residential.

Property 2 is 1.57 acres, but a third of it is a pond and is not too far from a previously identified flooding zone. So, it is not clear if it has the potential to flood. We are thinking of building townhouses once we fill in the pond.

I would like to prep both properties for building and finding funding—however, the steps to get there are not very clear to me. Here is my current total plan that was advised to me, which seems pretty good to me. I am struggling with getting the contacts in the area to get this done. So, ANY advice is welcomed. I am new to this, so there may be things that I am not thinking about.

• 1. Do an environmental survey or get a civil engineer? - Do we have a flood zone?
• 2. Get an architect to figure out what can be built there - can help with permits that are needed;
• 3. Get a contractor to:
  • Put together a detailed budget
  • Pull the permits
• 4. Call the power company and utility company (sewer), etc

I have two recommendations to start this process. One person says to get a civil engineer to check out the second property. A company I previously used for a survey says that they think I need a geotechnical survey.

My questions are:

Do you have any recommendations on what assessments I should start on? Also, do you have a referral for this?

Has anyone gone through a zoning change, especially in this county (Fulton, Georgia)? What was your experience? Do you have a contact point at the county you could share with me?

Based on the steps outlined above, is there anything else I need to consider? Please keep in mind, this will be my first development project. I want to prep both lands but will start building with property 2 to get my feet wet.

Any other advice you may have, including getting the funds to build them?