When Amber Burks became the first person to move into Aviary Park, a new townhome complex on Greenbriar Parkway, she was excited to see how the community would transform and grow over time.
But what she didn’t expect three years ago was for the neighborhood to be in an ongoing feud with the city over a gas station, one that residents believe is being built illegally.
“This has been such a big issue for us because not only do we just not want it for safety reasons, but also we don’t want it because there’s literally a law in place that residents support that says no gas stations in this area,” Burks, 29, told Capital B Atlanta.
Burks and other residents gathered Sunday outside the gas station’s construction site at 3397 Greenbriar Parkway, waving signs saying “no more gas stations” to raise community awareness.
In July 2022, the city ratified SPI-20, a zoning ordinance which prohibits new gas stations from being built on Greenbriar Parkway — an area with around 10 gas stations within a 1-mile radius. Residents say because the permitting for the gas station was officially signed off and approved by the city in August 2022, a month after the zoning ordinance was already ratified, they believe the property owner of the gas station, Asif Khan, cannot be legally allowed to proceed in their community.
“The gas station is going to be right where the kids in our neighborhood wait for the bus. It’s going to be right across the street from a day care, right in front of a senior home, and all the problems that come with the gas station are about to be literally right outside our front door,” Burks said.
Khan declined Capital B Atlanta’s request for comment for this story.
Gas stations in residential areas can increase community exposure to toxic air pollutants like benzene, a carcinogen that can increase asthma symptoms, cause wheezing, and more, according to Beyond Toxics, an environmental advocacy group.
Atlanta City Council member Marci Collier Overstreet, who represents the community’s district and created SPI-20, told Capital B Atlanta that she opposes the gas station.
“This project is too close to our senior housing and newly established family units,” Overstreet said, “It’s simply not what our community needs or deserves. I remain vocal and firmly opposed to this development.”
City officials say that despite the permit being signed after the law was put in place, because Khan was in conversation with the city about the construction plans prior to the ordinance change, he has the legal grounds to continue construction.
Council member Michael Julian Bond told Capital B Atlanta that the city’s legal team said that due to email correspondence between Khan’s legal team and officials in the Department of City Planning, Khan was given the green light to proceed with the project in 2022.
Bond said that Khan could sue the city if it tries to revoke the gas station’s permits at this point. He called the situation a “failure” on the city’s part.
“This is a lapse in process for the city, and we all need to collectively work to make sure that this type of thing doesn’t ever happen again,” Bond said.
In email records obtained by Capital B Atlanta, a May 2022 message between Khan’s attorney and the planning department shows that a city official told Khan’s attorney that despite SPI-20 being proposed at the time, the project is “still legal” and that “the applicant may follow through with it for their own reasons.”
A planning department spokesperson told Capital B News Atlanta via email that officials are aware of the situation and “shall continue to work to ensure the zoning requirements are being properly applied.”
“We’ve worked hard to ratify legislation that created a comprehensive overlay for that area, designed to prevent developments like this one,” Overstreet said. “City Planning has stated that the gas station was permitted before the overlay was ratified. What that also means is the developer moved forward without coming to me for a variance or waiver — something I find deeply troubling.”
Jaylin Myers, a lifelong resident in southwest Atlanta and a resident of Aviary Park, told Capital B Atlanta he’s worried about the number of gas stations surrounding the area and wants to see different types of businesses in his neighborhood.
“This is a nice residential area; please provide something that is fun for us to do,” Myers said. “What about a lot of those new gaming places that we’re seeing in the upper west sides? You have Top Golf over there. You have so many of these other places where people can go to express themselves, not just gas stations.”
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