Atlanta Beltline

[ATLaffinity]

^^
there will be grass. it's a pretty extensive park with a lot of active space:

here's the most recent presentation:

North Avenue Park (pdf)

check out p3 for the scope

[Andrea]

Watershed Management is putting up much of the money for this park?

[Tombstoner]

Originally Posted by echinatl

I want some grass! What's wrong with having a park with a lot of open grass so you can actually do "stuff" there. That is my biggest problem with Centennial Park, why is there a road going down the center of it!? Tear out the unused fountains/roads/expansive paved walkways and just put some grass on it dang it!

Gosh, I couldn't disagree with you more. So many of Atlanta's neighborhood "parks" are just soccer fields (sometimes with a few random trees). I'm thrilled to see some water, some hardscaping, some topography. We need a lot more of this, not less (IMHO).

[smArTaLlone]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Watershed Management is putting up much of the money for this park?

Per the website, Watershed Management is funding the pond.

Originally Posted by echinatl

I want some grass! What's wrong with having a park with a lot of open grass so you can actually do "stuff" there. That is my biggest problem with Centennial Park, why is there a road going down the center of it!? Tear out the unused fountains/roads/expansive paved walkways and just put some grass on it dang it!

Those are images of the pond which is only a small part of the park. I think Centennial would be pretty boring with just a grass field.

This is the complete 35 acre park plan. Phase 1 is 13-16 acres.

[smArTaLlone]

Beltline impact meetings

MARTA and Atlanta Beltline Inc. are kicking off an environmental impact study of the Beltline this week with a series of community meetings.

The environmental study is part of an effort to secure funding from the Federal Transit Administration for a light-rail line that would run along the Beltline right of way. As the official FTA-designated agency in metro Atlanta, MARTA is leading the study — though no one has been chosen to build and operate any future Beltline rail system.

MARTA estimates it would cost more than $800 million to build a Beltline rail line, a tab that could be covered from several sources including federal grants and property taxes on new development along the Beltline.

But federal money may be a long shot. The grant process is competitive and favors big transit projects that relieve congestion. The Beltline is a bit unusual in that it’s designed to alleviate future traffic problems by attracting development that would otherwise go to already crowded areas.

This week’s community meetings are designed to provide information about the process as well as gather public comment. The meeting schedule:

• Tuesday, 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at two locations — Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3003 Howell Mill Road; and the Trolley Barn, 963 Edgewood Ave.

• Thursday, 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at two locations — Georgia Hill Neighborhood Center, 250 Georgia Ave.; and Central United Methodist Church, 503 Mitchell St.

— Paul Donsky

Atlanta Journal Constitution

[smArTaLlone]

WSB report on the Beltline moving forward.

[netdragon]

To keep up-to-date with the beltline project, watch the money...

http://www.epa.gov/EPA-IMPACT/2008/July/...v/EPA-IMPACT/2008/July/Day-24/i16990.htm

[smArTaLlone]

File Not Found

[Chris Creech]

Okay is it just me or does it seem that the recent craziness with gas prices and focus on congestion and commutes may be a boon to the Beltline?

I was just fretting for a while, cause it seemed like over time the Beltline was getting to be less and less a transportation solution, and the rail element was getting pushed more and more to the back burner. It was for awhile increasingly a development tool and the rail line was increasing being pushed off to a "later phase".

I'm for one really glad to see the plan take on more of it's orignal shape as an intown transporation solution.

[RTaylor]

File found: http://www.epa.gov/EPA-IMPACT/2008/July/Day-24/i16990.htm

[jew4life4948]

Interesting article about how APS stands to benefit from the Beltline in lieu of an increased tax for the first # of years.

"Atlanta Connected


Schools Benefit from Community Redevelopment: The Untold Story of TADs
As a BeltLine supporter, you will be particularly interested in Amendment No. 2 on the November 4 ballot. The ballot question proposes to “authorize community redevelopment” and to restore to local school boards the option to participate in Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) granted to them by Georgia voters nearly a quarter century ago. As you probably know, the BeltLine Tax Allocation District (TAD) will serve as the primary source of funding and will cover the majority of infrastructure costs. Over the next ten weeks leading to Election Day, we will share with you information that you can share with friends and neighbors to help educate them on this important ballot question, beginning with this:

Despite community redevelopment opponents’ mischaracterization of school boards’ alleged lack of sophistication, school districts negotiate specific benefits that help to build capacity and strengthen communities. In the BeltLine TAD in particular, the Atlanta Public Schools negotiated the following benefits:

• Up to $10 million for the construction of recreational facilities or athletic fields at school sites within the BeltLine Redevelopment Area.
• Subsidized or free transit rides for APS students.
• Payments totaling $150 million for educational programming paid in $7.5-million annual installments in years 6 through 25 of the life of the TAD.
• Preferences in the use of the TAD bond-funded BeltLine Affordable Housing.
• Trust Fund for the benefit of educators and staff employed by APS.

More generally, a school in a blighted area generally will not improve unless the area surrounding it improves first. TADs attract investment to areas that have high concentrations of poverty. They help bring life back to these communities. And school districts are the major beneficiary of rising property values. According to a 2007 analysis of TADs in Georgia commissioned by the Livable Communities Coalition, the tax base inside a TAD grows an average of 300 percent faster than the tax base in nearby communities outside of the TAD."

[trainiac]

Originally Posted by jew4life4948

Interesting article about how APS stands to benefit from the Beltline in lieu of an increased tax for the first # of years.

I think that's what ticked me off the most about the lawsuit: a two year delay to a project that's really a good deal for the schools. Now if he had gone after some other TAD in the state, I might have been less opposed to what he was doing.

[smArTaLlone]

AJC

The credit crisis roiling the markets on Wall Street could deal a multi-million dollar blow to Atlanta’s Beltline project.

Beltline officials are ready to sell $120 million in bonds to kick-start their effort to build a 22-mile loop of transit, trails and parks. But the financial turmoil has weakened the bond market in recent weeks, making it more expensive to borrow money.

The Beltline is sitting on the sidelines for now, waiting for the market to improve. But a deadline is looming — the Beltline must pay $45 million by Oct. 31 to Gwinnett investors Wayne and Keith Mason in order to complete the sale of a key portion of the rail right-of-way in northeast Atlanta.

“We’re just monitoring it on a daily basis,” Lutch said. “Bond buyers are having a very tough time pricing these deals and understanding what the risks are.”

The Beltline bond issue is the first of several over the next 25 years expected to raise $1 billion. The bonds would be backed by property tax increases in a district surrounding the planned route.

The bonds are unrated and seen as more risky than bonds backed by state or county revenues, said Amy Resnick, editor of the Bond Buyer.

“It’s a really hard time for them to be sold,” she said. “Anything connected to real estate right now is going to have a hard time.”

[amd1588]

Is the rail going to be heavy rail or light rail ?

Also, will it be at ground level or elevated in any parts?

[Andrea]

I have the feeling that will be something for future generations to determine.

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by amd1588

Is the rail going to be heavy rail or light rail ?

Also, will it be at ground level or elevated in any parts?

I think it'll be mostly light-rail. The area's it goes through aren't that dense.

And at ground except for specified crossings where it'll either elevate on a bridge or go through a tunnel.

[jew4life4948]

Guide to voting on state ballot questions

Summary:

· Vote YES for “Amendment 2” on November 4.

Text of proposed amendment No. 2:

To authorize local school districts to use tax funds for community redevelopment purposes.

"Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to authorize community redevelopment and authorize counties, municipalities and local boards of education to use tax funds for redevelopment and programs?"

Explanation: This amendment was necessitated earlier this year when the state Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not allow local governments to use school property tax revenue to help finance redevelopment projects. Dozens of projects around metro Atlanta , as well as other cities around the state, were proposing to use a financing mechanism called tax allocation districts to stimulate redevelopment in areas where developers would not otherwise be able to get conventional financing. Most of the tracts asking for the designation are in depressed areas that currently generate little or no tax revenue.

Tax allocation districts, or TADs, work by freezing property taxes in these designated districts while they are being redeveloped. Then, as the property is being improved and sold for residential and commercial use, the new taxes are used to pay off the debt for the redevelopment project. In the long run, everyone benefits, promoters say. Depressed property is improved and more taxes go into the general coffers.

This amendment does not authorize specific TAD-financed projects anywhere in Georgia . It merely allows school property taxes —- which account for about two-thirds of all local property taxes —- to become a part of the mix. Local school boards would retain the authority to say "no" to the use of school taxes or to negotiate specific terms in order to approve a TAD. That's important because some of the projects promoted for TADs in recent years are too risky, especially in a depressed housing market. Local government officials, including school boards, should scrutinize these requests closely before approving them, demanding to know why the developers can't get conventional market financing or why local governments won't issue general revenue bonds to get them off the ground.

Tax allocation districts can be a useful financing tool for well-conceived projects that might not otherwise be affordable. But they also should be used sparingly. This amendment will allow communities to keep them in their redevelopment tool box. Vote YES.

— Mike King, for the editorial board ([email protected]) 10/01/08

[smArTaLlone]

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Contributing Writer Maria Saporta

Atlanta leaders broke ground Wednesday on their newest park -- the Historic Fourth Ward Park just south of City Hall East.

It took the vision and work of dozens of people to launch the $50 million park, many of whom stood on the podium under an unseasonably warm fall day.

But three other players, who were instrumental in creating the vision for the park, stood among the 100 or so people who came for the ground-breaking event.

One of those players was Bill Eisenhauer, a citizen leader who has been advocating for the use of parks as a way to help Atlanta solve its combined water and sewer system and its storm water overflow.

Back in May 2003, Eisenhauer took me on a tour of vacant land around the city that he believed could become new green space and help address Atlanta’s sewer problems. He showed me one of the most exciting possibilities -- a park that would stretch south of North Avenue and turn acres and acres of decaying parking lots into green space and water features.

Another visionary was Jim Langford, the former head of the Trust for Public Land in Georgia. Langford was able to buy property for the park as part of a vision for the BeltLine before it was bought by land speculators and developers.

The third visionary was Markham Smith of the Smith Dahlia architectural firm. The firm’s office overlooked the possible park, and he worked painstakingly with other property owners in the area to help assemble the land.

The new park is a testament to Eisenhauer’s vision of tackling water and sewer problems with green space rather than with expensive tunnels.

As people on the podium said, the cost to tunnel the property would have been $40 million, and the cost of creating a water feature and a park to do the same job was $30 million. The BeltLine Partnership raised $10 million to help build amenities for the park with $8 million coming from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The remaining $10 million came from the city’s opportunity bond program.

Creating the park also will have another significant impact. The city’s anticipated sale of City Hall East to developer Emory Morsberger can’t go forward until the park and its storm water feature is developed.

Whenever there’s a major storm, the basement of City Hall East gets flooded despite having large water vaults to capture the water. The flooding of the City Hall East and the storm overflow problem is why that sale has not yet materialized.

Morsberger spokeswoman Amanda Brown-Olmstead said now the sale is expected to conclude in 2009.

Wednesday’s ground-breaking also launched the Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy, which will oversee the development, maintenance and security of the new park.

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by smArTaLlone

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Contributing Writer Maria Saporta

Atlanta leaders broke ground Wednesday on their newest park -- the Historic Fourth Ward Park just south of City Hall East.

It took the vision and work of dozens of people to launch the $50 million park, many of whom stood on the podium under an unseasonably warm fall day.

But three other players, who were instrumental in creating the vision for the park, stood among the 100 or so people who came for the ground-breaking event.

One of those players was Bill Eisenhauer, a citizen leader who has been advocating for the use of parks as a way to help Atlanta solve its combined water and sewer system and its storm water overflow.

Back in May 2003, Eisenhauer took me on a tour of vacant land around the city that he believed could become new green space and help address Atlanta’s sewer problems. He showed me one of the most exciting possibilities -- a park that would stretch south of North Avenue and turn acres and acres of decaying parking lots into green space and water features.

Another visionary was Jim Langford, the former head of the Trust for Public Land in Georgia. Langford was able to buy property for the park as part of a vision for the BeltLine before it was bought by land speculators and developers.

The third visionary was Markham Smith of the Smith Dahlia architectural firm. The firm’s office overlooked the possible park, and he worked painstakingly with other property owners in the area to help assemble the land.

The new park is a testament to Eisenhauer’s vision of tackling water and sewer problems with green space rather than with expensive tunnels.

As people on the podium said, the cost to tunnel the property would have been $40 million, and the cost of creating a water feature and a park to do the same job was $30 million. The BeltLine Partnership raised $10 million to help build amenities for the park with $8 million coming from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. The remaining $10 million came from the city’s opportunity bond program.

Creating the park also will have another significant impact. The city’s anticipated sale of City Hall East to developer Emory Morsberger can’t go forward until the park and its storm water feature is developed.

Whenever there’s a major storm, the basement of City Hall East gets flooded despite having large water vaults to capture the water. The flooding of the City Hall East and the storm overflow problem is why that sale has not yet materialized.

Morsberger spokeswoman Amanda Brown-Olmstead said now the sale is expected to conclude in 2009.

Wednesday’s ground-breaking also launched the Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy, which will oversee the development, maintenance and security of the new park.

Great news!
I didn't know about the flooding at City Hall East.

Can't wait for Moresberger's Ponce Park.
http://www.poncepark.com/

[Teshadoh]

City Hall East (Sears) was built on top of a creek - specifically Ponce Springs, so flooding would be expected.