Earlier this year, a massive sinkhole developed in Summerhill as pavement and asphalt caved in, leaving an entire road inaccessible. The root cause of the 18-foot-deep hole on Georgia Avenue: an old, damaged pipe.
Nonetheless, this summer the Atlanta Track Club, the nonprofit running organization behind the Peachtree Road race, announced it is proposing to build a $100 million indoor track stadium in the same area as the sinkhole site. While the property is owned by Atlanta Public Schools, the nonprofit is looking to enter a 50-year lease with the school system to rent the land for the project.
Environmental advocates and residents told Capital B Atlanta the proposed track project raises questions around the city’s commitment to addressing flooding that has plagued Black communities for years.
Sherise Brown, a longtime resident of Peoplestown, said she was “shocked” to learn about the club’s plans. Brown said more events like the sinkhole will occur if the city’s aging water infrastructure and ongoing flooding issues that she’s been advocating about for years aren’t properly addressed.
The site is exactly where the city proposed to build a large stormwater vault several years ago.
Named the Connally vault, the device was designed to retain around 7 million gallons of stormwater to help take pressure off of the city’s aging pipes. It would also help satisfy a 1998 federal consent decree, as the city’s sewer and stormwater infrastructure have caused ongoing sewer spills and Clean Water Act violations. The project would also ultimately help reduce ongoing flooding harming the surrounding neighborhoods.
“For years, residents were told that these APS properties were being considered for major green infrastructure and stormwater storage as part of the City’s long-term flood mitigation strategy,” Kim Scott, the executive director of Georgia WAND, an environmental advocacy group, told Capital B Atlanta in an email.
Brown and Scott said they’ve felt left in the dark by the city about why and how the plans keep changing.
“Now those same parcels are being proposed for an indoor track facility, a large surface parking lot, paved plazas, the removal of mature trees, and the permanent closure of a neighborhood street,” Scott continued.
While the Connally vault project has stalled, the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management is currently constructing a similar vault in Peoplestown. Residents who were opposed to the project told Capital B Atlanta in January they were hoping that the city would capture and retain water further upstream instead of having water collect in Peoplestown.
“If these sites were unavailable for critical stormwater infrastructure, how are they now available for redevelopment?” Scott said. “If they are no longer needed for stormwater management, where is the engineering analysis supporting that conclusion? If they are still needed, why are they being converted to a use that increases impervious surface and runoff?”
Jacqueline Echols, the president of the South River Watershed Alliance, said abandoning the Connally vault project feels like the city “doesn’t care” about solving Southeast Atlanta’s flooding and pollution issues.
“It’s interesting that in that part of town, Southeast Atlanta … that only about 25% of the projects that were originally required under the consent decree have been completed,” Echols said. “This is all while the city of Atlanta is still polluting Peoplestown.”
The Department of Watershed Management did not immediately respond to Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment.
In efforts to respond to community concerns, the Atlanta Track Club unveiled updated plans for the track facility at a community meeting hosted by the nonprofit on Sept. 8 at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.
At the meeting, engineers working on the project and officials with the club said the plans had been updated to include more green space, and informed community members about the stormwater infrastructure that would be put in place. An engineer with the project said the old pipes underneath the facility would be updated and enlarged, helping improve the flow of water underground.
Rich Kenah, CEO of the Atlanta Track Club, told Capital B Atlanta at the meeting that the organization wants to help address flooding with its plans.
“So my understanding before we signed our [letter of intent] with APS, there was communication between APS and Watershed where it was understood … the vault that was contemplated once upon a time on this property was not needed,” Kenah said.
“What I can say is that we will not move forward on this project without clarity from the city of Atlanta that they do not need a vault on this site, and that our project will help what has historically been flooding around the neighborhood and then downstream in Peoplestown,” he said.
Brown said after the meeting that although she felt good about the Atlanta Track Club’s stormwater plans, she said that she and other residents will be working to hold the organization, the city and APS accountable.
“I was glad to hear the responses from the engineers, but I wasn’t ready to wholeheartedly support it last night, not until we have this set in stone, have it in writing,” she said, “because we’ve been promised a lot over the years that has not been done on behalf of the city and on watershed.”
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