DEL.ICIO.USCollege Park to Atlanta: Undeveloped land a blight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Don’t do it, some College Park city council members told the mayor.
But Mayor Jack Longino came to Atlanta City Hall earlier this month to deliver a message.
Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com
College Park officials say their attempt to purchases the former Lottie Miller apartment complex land is being held up by Atlanta.
“Atlanta has been buying land here since the 1970s. The majority of this land has gone undeveloped. No business development. No tax revenue. Just blight,” the mayor told Atlanta city officials during their city council meeting.
Longino and others in this south Fulton city are frustrated with their bigger neighbor to the north. Their current complaint: Atlanta is dragging its feet on selling to College Park about 42 acres of vacant land that was once the Lottie Miller apartment complex. The Atlanta City Council agreed in July to sell the land, which is near College Park City Hall, but the deal is not done, to College Park’s dismay.
College Park’s greater concern is its contention that Atlanta is hindering its economic development efforts. Since the 1970s, Atlanta has bought and demolished countless homes and properties in the smaller city in an effort to limit the impact of noise from airplanes taking off and landing at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which is owned by the city of Atlanta.
College Park wants the land, most of which is idle, to attract businesses to boost the city’s property tax rolls.
“This is about Big Brother wanting to control Little Brother,” Longino said in an interview.
Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Ben DeCosta answered yes when asked if he believes Longino’s public complaints are a negotiating ploy. He declined to say more, citing several ongoing lawsuits between Atlanta and College Park.
“We are continuing to work closely with the city of College Park, as we have been for several years, to resolve a number of outstanding issues,” said John Kennedy, an airport spokesman. “Some of [those issues] are in litigation, so we would respectfully decline to publicly discuss the specifics of these negotiations at this time.”
College Park has a complicated relationship with the airport. A framed portrait of airport images — including the two men the airport is named after, former Atlanta mayors William Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson — is on a wall of a conference room in its City Hall.
Without the airport, College Park would not have its sparkling Georgia International Convention Center, which is already booked this year for about 55 expos, proms and other events.
College Park also has about three dozen hotels and motels and expects about
$1 billion in new development, which includes five more hotels, during the next two years, city officials say.
But there is another side to the growth, College Park leaders say. City officials estimate Atlanta owns about 36 percent of the land in College Park. Since the 1970s, the city’s population has declined from 28,203 to the 2007 U.S. Census estimate of 20,113.
As a result, the mayor says, several cherished churches, parks and homes are no longer there.
“I have seen College Park completely destroyed by that airport in a lot of [ways],” Longino, 55, who grew up in College Park, said during the public comments portion of the Atlanta council meeting. With him were the interim city manager and other College Park officials.
Atlanta City Councilman Ceasar Mitchell, one of the newest members on the council’s transportation committee, said the disputes and Longino’s appearance at City Hall show the two sides need to talk.
“The first thing we’ve got to do is have better dialogue,” said Mitchell. “It reflects poorly on the city of Atlanta if we can’t have quality dialogue with the city of College Park.”
So does Longino think coming to Atlanta to complain helped?
“I don’t think we hurt ourselves at all,” he said.
.JPG)
Services »