Piedmont Park comes up dry on second well

The Piedmont Park Conservancy has yet to hit pay dirt.

Its second attempt to drill a well that would provide enough water to free the park from the city’s resources, and its watering restrictions, came up dry.

At stake is not only the viability of Atlanta’s central park, where a dozen 100-year-old trees have already died, but also the large-scale festivals that have called it home.

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Given the brittle conditions of the land, Atlanta’s parks commissioner early this year banned from Piedmont Park the larger festivals, those that draw more than 50,000 people, including the Peachtree Road Race, Atlanta Pride Festival and the Dogwood Festival.

This summer, organizers of those festivals called for the city to allow them to return to the park, citing the financial hardship and instability caused by new locations that were less suitable.

In preparing for next year’s festival, the Atlanta Pride Committee is “planning for the worst, which means we can’t get into the park,” but is hoping for a compromise solution, said Deirdre Heffernan, chair of the group’s board of directors.

This year, festival organizers had to change the weekend to find a suitable venue — the Atlanta Civic Center — and in the process lost more than $160,000 on the event. They struggled to find last-minute sponsors and drum up attendance. And whereas the civic center cost $80,000 to use, the park only charges for repairs, which usually run $10,000 to $12,000, Heffernan said.

But there’s more to it than the money — it’s the longing for the feel of the park. “To enjoy the green space and toss a Frisbee, that’s just all part of the relaxation of the event,” she said.

The office of Dianne Harnell Cohen, commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, had no comment on the latest development in the plight of the park.

The two drilling attempts cost the Piedmont Park Conservancy $50,000 apiece. The first attempt in June led to a well that generates 50 gallons of water per minute, enough for a residence, said Monica Thornton, the conservancy’s vice president and chief marketing development officer. That will help to water the trees, but the conservancy also needs water to maintain the athletic fields that underwent a $2.1 million renovation, not to mention the rest of the park.

As the Conservancy pursues a 53-acre expansion north of the park, it could attempt to drill more wells, Thornton said. The park has identified seven potential drilling sites.

Even without the large festivals, the park is “still getting a lot of use and still very fragile,” Thornton said. “This park is for Atlanta,” she said. “It’s always been a fairground. It’s always been the gathering spot for Atlanta, and it always will be our mission is to protect the park and conserve it as a cultural amenity for all of Atlanta.”