Atlanta mulls Beltline's bond finance proposal

The Atlanta City Council on Monday is expected to consider allowing Beltline leaders to begin the process of selling up to $120 million in bonds to help pay for the planned 22-mile loop of trails, transit and parks.

Beltline officials will have to come back to the council later this summer to flesh out exactly how they plan to spend the money, however.

The bonds will be backed by increases in tax revenue on property inside the Beltline tax allocation district.

Beltline officials had planned to issue $200 million in bonds in 2006, but Buckhead lawyer John Woodham filed a lawsuit to stop the sale, claiming the state Constitution forbids using school tax money on anything other than education.

After a legal battle that ended up before the state Supreme Court, Woodham won the case. The bond sale now being pursued by Beltline officials relies only on city and county property tax revenues.

Beltline officials say they hope to issue bonds in September, providing a needed influx of capital.

The bond issue will be the first of several planned in the next 25 years projected to raise $1 billion. The Beltline, one of the largest public works projects in Atlanta's history, has a projected $2.8 billion budget.

— Paul Donsky

Parking lot to be improved

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which governs the downtown convention center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, last week approved $1.5 million in improvements to its blue surface parking lot on Northside Drive.

The sloping property, on which the center hopes to one day build a 2,000-space garage, will get new landscaping.

GWCC officials hope the new design, which will include a walkway and steps from the surface lot, will help guide visitors to a safer crossing point to get to Building C of the massive complex. As currently designed, many visitors cross in the middle of the street instead of using the traffic signals and crosswalks on either end of Northside Drive.

— Leon Stafford

South Fulton projects eyed

The Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority are scheduled to take their first look Monday at two huge projects — one in Palmetto, the other in Douglas County — by the same developer.

Merrill Trust Communities & Resorts plans to build 5,400 residences and 1.1 million square feet of commercial space on 1,300 acres of farmland in Palmetto in south Fulton County, according to information filed with the state.

The project is called Foxhall Village.

Merrill Trust's other project, Foxhall Resort & Sporting Club, calls for up to 910 resort residences and 2.3 million square feet of mixed-use commercial space in Douglas. The Douglas project would take about 12 years to complete and the Palmetto development 20 years.

The Palmetto property would need to be rezoned to allow for housing and commercial uses, city administrator Terry Todd said. Palmetto annexed the site in 2006 at the developer's request.

The land is less than a mile from South Fulton Parkway, a major thoroughfare that offers a quick, 20-mile drive to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Foxhall Village has the potential to dramatically change Palmetto, population 4,500.

Officials with Merrill Trust could not be reached for comment.

—Paul Donsky

Housing market 'vibrant'

Former federal Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros says metro Atlanta's housing market is being spared the worst of the national slump partly because of the region's comparatively vibrant economy.

"Atlanta arguably has the most dynamic economic market in the country," Cisneros said last week while in Sandy Springs.

Cisneros predicted metro Atlanta's home prices and its overall housing industry will rebound sooner than other regions. The local market will continue to be reinforced by the expected influx of talented young people seeking opportunities, he said.

Factors contributing to local economic strength include hospitals and health care facilities, universities and the passenger volume through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he said.

Cisneros spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the ceremonial opening of One River Place, a development of houses, condos and townhomes being built near the Chattahoochee River in Sandy Springs. The investment company Cisneros oversees, City View, is helping to finance the project.

Cisneros was secretary of the Housing and Urban Development department from 1993 to 1996.

— David Pendered

THIS WEEK

• TUESDAY: The state Drought Response Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. in the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board Room at 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, 12th floor of the East Tower in downtown Atlanta. The committee, comprised of federal, state and regional officials, will hear drought forecasts from state climatologist David Stooksbury and may make recommendations for changes in North Georgia's outdoor watering restrictions.