An Atlanta City Council committee on Monday advanced an ordinance to ratify the mayor’s ban on redevelopment permits for the site of the closing Atlanta Medical Center.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued an executive order last month directing the City Planning department to refuse any applications for rezoning, building permits, land disturbances, special administrative permits, subdivisions, replatting or lot consolidations the land within the AMC’s footprint. Dickens renewed the temporary moratorium last Monday, and his administration is working with the council to extend it for 180 days through the ordinance.
The zoning committee unanimously voted for the ordinance. The measure will now go before the full council for a vote on Oct. 17.
Wellstar Health System officials on Aug. 31 announced plans to close the AMC by Nov. 1, and Wellstar plans to close AMC’s emergency room even sooner, on Friday. The announcement blindsided residents and public leaders because the AMC, a 120-year-old institution in the Old Fourth Ward, serves low-income families as one of the region’s two Level I trauma centers.
The mayor’s office and several council members support the moratorium because it provides the city time to work with the community and health care providers to address the impact of the AMC’s abrupt closure.
Dickens says Atlanta wants to prioritize the continued use of the 25-acre site — in whole or in part — for health care services. AMC also houses the Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 6 Crime Suppression Precinct, so Dickens wants to maintain that public safety infrastructure as well.
Meanwhile, Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond wants to study the possibility of turning the AMC site into an equity center. Bond’s resolution would create a “Wellstar Hospital study group” limiting the group’s recommendations to building an equity center. It will be debated by the council’s Community Development/Human Services Committee on Tuesday.
