Buried landfill forced Atlanta United to leave DeKalb
Atlanta United FC decided against building its training complex in DeKalb County after workers discovered problems with an old landfill beneath where practice fields would have been located.
Buried trash and debris posed an ongoing risk that the ground could settle, creating an uneven playing surface on soccer fields, according to a geotechnical study obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.
Faced with a $20 million cost to excavate the landfill, Atlanta United and DeKalb mutually agreed that the project wasn't financially viable. Atlanta United will instead build its facilities in Marietta.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
