Fresh Loaf

If Atlanta City Council gives them the OK, bonds set to be issued this week to pay for Beltline projects will be worth $64.5 million — a much lower amount than the $117 million initially anticipated before bond markets ground to a halt because of Wall Street’s meltdown.

Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Terri Montague says more bonds will be issued in mid-2009. The tax-exempt bonds will be split in half and sold to Wachovia and Suntrust with a 6.2 percent interest rate. She says the reason the offering is much smaller is because debts — most notably, the Wayne Mason property in the 22-mile project’s northeast quadrant — must be paid. Additional bonds are planned to be issued in in mid-2009. Montague says the affordable housing component will receive roughly $8.5 8.8 million.

Beltline leaders will also have to buy out Ben Rainey and Barry Real Estate, its private partners in a joint venture that purchased the 66-acre Mason property, to meet regulations established for tax-exempt bonds. Montague says the two partners agreed to settle for $3.5 million — they originally wanted $10 million.

Beltline officials appear before Atlanta City Council at 3:30 p.m. to seek its approval before proceeding with the deal. Should City Council fail to approve the bond offering, the city would lose both the property and $26 million its already paid to the Masons.

Should voters approve Amendment 2 on the General Election ballot, Montague says, the next Beltline TAD bond offering could potentially be much larger.

More updates to come.

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Beltline bonds scheduled to be priced this week have been delayed until mid-October, a spokesperson for the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit says. Project leaders say the bonds — estimated to be worth $117 million — are now scheduled to be issued the week of Oct. 20.

Timing is of the essence, however, as that issuance cuts close to an Oct. 31 deadline to settle outstanding debt on a vital piece of property in northeast Atlanta near Piedmont Park. The property includes transit right-of-way and was purchased late last year from Gwinnett County developer Wayne Mason and his son, Keith. The decision to allocate the majority of Beltline bond proceeds to the Masons was opposed by community groups, but ultimately determined necessary to ensure the future of the project.

Should Beltline leaders not settle the Mason debt by the deadline, the property could risk foreclosure, placing valuable intown property on the real-estate market and in turn, making it harder to secure.

The national market for municipal bonds — for years the go-to financing mechanism that’s kept cities apace — has been essentially closed since the fallout on Wall Street, leaving many projects as grand as the Beltline and as everyday as highway repairs in a lurch. Athens-Clarke County recently put three long-planned sewer treatment plants, to be paid for with bonds, on the backburner until the market improves.

Atlanta is currently sitting on four upcoming bond issuances: The Beltline and Perry Bolton TAD bonds, the General Obligation refinancing bonds, and the Downtown Redevelopment bonds. Dana Boone, the city’s debt and investment chief, says most buyers in the market are hesitant to make purchases until Congress acts on the controversial bailout package. (The U.S. Senate approved the $850-billion, 450-page package last night.)

“The belief is that there are not a lot of issuances going out to market and postponing deals because there aren’t a lot of buyers in the market,” Boone says. “The costs would be too high. The issuers that are pursuing bond issuances are those with high needs.”

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The internal investigation conducted by the City of Atlanta into why former arborist Tom Coffin was fired is complete, the AJC reports. Its conclusion? He wasn’t a team player, yo.

On Monday, the city’s human resources director wrote a letter to Coffin that said he was fired by the city’s Planning and Community Development department “as a result of an unwillingness or inability to work in a team environment.” The three-page letter says Coffin reinspected properties checked out by co-workers without his supervisor’s approval, unnecessarily issued “punitive citations” as the primary means of tree conservation and that he too frequently sought reprimands against his subordinates instead of trying to mentor them.

Coffin denied each of the findings and said he plans to sue the city for wrongful termination.

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This Friday, that trusty parking spot in downtown Atlanta just may be replaced with a patch of grass and a freewheelin’ youngster flying a kite.

The nationwide event, National Park(ing) Day, is hosted by the city and  sponsored by the Trust for Public Land. For one day, public parking spaces will morph into mini-parks. The idea was originally hatched by Rebar, a San Francisco arts collective. Last year’s event created more than 200 new “parks” across the nation and world. To learn how to make your own  “parking park” for Friday, click here. (For photos of last year’s event, check out TPL’s National Park(ing) Day Flickr page.)

“By turning parking spaces into instant parks, National Park(ing) Day creatively demonstrates how much our cities need parks,” said Will Rogers, TPL president. “Across America, cities are renewing their investments in parks, because civic leaders have come to recognize that close-to-home parks, gardens, and playgrounds are essential if we are to have cities that aren’t just livable, but lovable.”

Lovable indeed! When was the last time you hugged Atlanta? The city plans to hold a “Park(ing) Day” at City Hall with artists, farmers and a solar panel demonstration.

(Photo by Donna McCall at TPL’s Flickr page)

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Tom Coffin, the dedicated Atlanta arborist who was fired by the city in late July for what seems to be simply doing his job, has not given up on his fight to uncover why he was dropped off the city payroll. (To get the background about Coffin’s firing, click here.)

The real-life Lorax sent word this morning that the city’s investigation into his termination is now complete:

I received word from HR investigator Al Elder that his investigation is complete and is now undergoing executive review.  I assume that “executive review” means that the report is now on the mayor’s desk, though Mr. Elder declined to clarify who is doing the review.  I have been given no time frame for a decision and don’t know if the review will take days or weeks or months.

Meanwhile I made an Open Records request for the July and August “Inspections Completed By” reports produced in the Arborist Division to supplement the January through June data that I have circulated.  The chart below indicates that in the short run at least the only change in the enforcement pattern of the field arborists is to finally bring me in line with my former subordinates, by default.

The big blue and red bars represent Coffin’s average monthly inspections from January to June and July, respectively. The other three sets of initials are his former colleagues’ monthly inspections during the same time periods.

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MARTA and Atlanta Beltline Inc., the nonprofit agency planning the 22-mile of parks, trails and transit, will hold public workshops to discuss the massive project’s possible environmental effects on Tuesday and Thursday. The four meetings are scheduled both in the afternoon and the evening and mark the beginning of a two-year study.

After the jump, a pretty graph from the folks at MARTA listing the details for each meeting.

(more…)

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Members of the Three Forks Heritage Alliance, the community group that has fought a PATH trail between Mason Mill and Medlock Parks in DeKalb County, are surely cheerful today. A judge has blocked work on the controversial multi-use trail.

From the AJC:

A DeKalb County Superior Court judge on Wednesday issued a restraining order that bars PATH and its contractor, Lewallen Construction, from working on a mile-long route between Medlock and Mason Mill parks. Work must cease because the pro-ject is “illegal,” Judge Gregory A. Adams ruled.

Adams’ 30-day stop-work order follows a judgment he issued last week that DeKalb County government, which hired PATH for the $1.7 million project, quickly appealed to the state Supreme Court. Adams ruled on Aug. 6 that the county didn’t follow proper procurement procedures. The judge also ruled that DeKalb didn’t follow proper permitting procedures and allowed the walkway to stray too close to a stream in violation of its own environmental regulations.

Click here to visit the alliance’s website and read the judge’s order.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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A Fulton County Superior Court judge yesterday ruled in favor of the Atlanta Botanical Garden in its case against Friends of Piedmont Park, the nonprofit citizens’ group that fought a parking deck in the city’s iconic Midtown greenspace.

Judge T. Jackson Bedford determined two of the four claims filed by the garden against the group were “without merit” and ordered lawyers from the two sides to assess damages in the next two weeks.

The garden initially sought $290,000 in damages they say were incurred because of the contentious legal fight that erupted in 2005 when it announced plans for a 800-space parking deck inside the park. Friends of Piedmont Park and other neighborhood activists fought the project on the argument that a taxpayer-funded public space should not gift property to a private nonprofit organization without public engagement and input. The bitter dispute raged both in court documents and yard signs and divided nearby residents and the city at large.

The Atlanta City Council voted for the deck and Mayor Shirley Franklin signed its legislation later that year. The deck is scheduled to open in May and according to Mary Pat Matheson, the garden’s executive director, it will be virtually unseen, grant more access to the park, and potentially boast LEED-certification.

Matheson says she is “obviously very pleased” with Bedford’s ruling. Doug Abramson of Friends of Piedmont Park declined comment.

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Per Mayor Shirley Franklin’s suggestions to the council, 11 recreation centers in the city are to close down for repairs. No word on the specific centers yet. Dianne Harnell Cohen, director of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, says the centers were planned to be closed before the $140-million shortfall:

“We will be renovating 11 recreation centers for the Opportunity Bond, which must be spent during the 2009 budget. The renovations were planned before the need for budget cuts was determined. We will have some abbreviated hours at the recreation centers, tennis centers and natatoriums. We will have 19 Camp Best Friends sites this summer. All youth athletic activity will continue in place.”

Two rec centers will be shutting down permanently, as well. Again, from Director Cohen:

“The Cleveland Avenue recreation facility, owned by Fulton County, was used only in the summer. The facility is very old and is no longer functional. There are no plans for renovation because one of our best facilities - a class 4 facility Rosel Fann with full gymnasium and natatorium is less than a mile away.

The Arthur Langford recreation facility has been under discussion for a long time because the YMCA built its new mega center there a year ago. We have been working with the community and will continue to in order to integrate programming at the center with the YMCA so the entire community and the building can be well served.”

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The DeKalb County PATH trail between Medlock and Mason Mill Parks that has riled critics and become a hot-button issue — and caused a rift between neighborhood supporters and opponents — is now being spraypainted, evident in the photo of a vandalized silt fence along the planned multi-use trail. Construction of the project was recently halted by the state Environmental Protection Division and is now in limbo land.

For more photos, click here.

(Photo courtesy of the Three Forks Heritage Alliance)

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The controversial PATH trail planned to run between Medlock and Mason Mill Parks in DeKalb County began to take shape last week as work crews clear-cut trees and completed a construction entrance to reach the trail’s proposed location. The Three Forks Heritage Alliance, a neighborhood activist group that has been the most vocal opponents of the multi-use trail, have posted before-and-after photos of the construction on its Web site. The group claims that the county and the PATH Foundation — partners in the $1.6-million project — are violating a stop-work order issued by the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

And it looks like that’s something that’s happened before in DeKalb County and irks one of the board’s members.

From a DeKalb Champion article about the construction:

As construction continued April 10 and 11, it highlighted a continuing trend ZBA member Lundsten referred to during the hearing – that the county is ignoring many decisions made by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Lundsten called the Three Forks case a “home run” to show that the county isn’t even following its own rules.

“How do we get this county to respect the actions of this board?” said Lundsten. “In previous administrations, any action or decisions by the ZBA were final.”

Members of the alliance say the multi-use trail — which has been in the works for more than 10 years — will mar the undisturbed forest that is already popular with residents and parkgoers. They also say the county’s goal to increase connectivity in the area with the trail is unrealistic and poorly planned.

A hearing about the construction is scheduled for Monday at 1:30 p.m. at the DeKalb County Courthouse.

(Photo Courtesy of Three Forks Heritage Alliance)

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Rather ominous screenshot, pasted below, from the Three Forks Heritage Alliance’s Web site. The organization is a neighborhood activist group that opposes the joint PATH Foundation/DeKalb County multi-use trail that is planned to connect Medlock and Mason Mill Parks.

In mid-March, the alliance successfully blocked preliminary construction on the trail. Critics of the concept — which originated under former County Commissioner Gale Walldorff — say the trail will mar the old-growth forest between the parks, fail to connect surrounding areas, and has a price tag that has risen from $750,000 to more than $1.6 million.

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A DeKalb County judge this afternoon ruled that preliminary construction on a controversial trail in DeKalb County is still a no-go.

Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams said today that the county — which is one of the backers of the PATH-designed and -built trail — had been given proper notice that the Three Forks Heritage Alliance, a neighborhood activist group, was filing a temporary restraining order against the project last week.

Today’s hearing in the county courthouse drew nearly 20 opponents of the .8-mile trail that is planned to connect Medlock and Mason Mill Parks near Emory University. Members of the alliance and its supporters filled three rows in the courtroom gallery and donned white shirts to show solidarity for their cause. At one point during the proceedings, the court bailiff removed five alliance supporters after they laughed with bemusement at Chief Assistant County Attorney Duane Pritchett’s claim that there was little “irreparable harm” done when PATH-hired construction crews cut down 24 trees last week to build a service road to the trail’s location deep in the woods.

Jed Appelrouth, a graduate student who says he visits the dense woods to jog, attended the hearing. He opposes the PATH project because he questions its design and the ability to fund it. He also wonders who exactly benefits from the $750,000 trail.

“Everybody I’ve talked to about this project is against it,” he said. “Who supports it? Who’s clamoring for it? I want to see it.”

Another trail opponent standing near Appelrouth agreed and said the benefits trail advocates list — mainly that it would give access to the woods for the elderly and people in wheelchairs — are already there.

“Don’t tell it’s going to benefit seniors — look who’s fighting it,” Charles Tshiko said, gesturing toward a woman next to him who appeared to be a mix of confused and offended. “Don’t tell me it’s for families with their kids. Look at it now.”

One of the main perks the county and PATH say the trail will provide is increased connectivity between the neighborhoods and a larger trail network planned for the future.

John Sumrall, one of the few neighborhood residents who turned out to support the PATH trail, thinks that the opponents of the trail — namely, the alliance — want to claim the park for their own and have merely been more vocal in their arguments. Supporters, he says, just want to see it come to light.

“I’ve observed the benefit [of PATH trails] in other neighborhoods and what they can do,” he said. “Plus, we’re talking about two large parks that are publicly-owned, but [lack] access. The neighborhood has too much traffic so young kids and most other people can’t even ride a bicycle on the street. Fourth, by beginning at Medlock Park it would eliminate [the alliance's] complaint of people parking on the street. Fifth, it’s a great recreational possibility for every citizen from the ages of 3 to 90.”

But until another hearing is held in April, there’ll be nary a peep from the bulldozers and chainsaws on the PATH trail between Mason Mill and Medlock Parks.

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The same judge who halted preliminary construction last week on a controversial PATH trail between Mason Mill and Medlock parks in DeKalb County will hold a hearing Thursday at 11 a.m. at the county courthouse in downtown Decatur to determine whether work can resume. Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams’ ruling was challenged by the county, PATH’s partner in the $750,000 project. William Linkous, the county attorney, says he and PATH officials were not warned of last week’s hearing.