05-29-2015 Buckhead Reporter

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Buckhead Reporter

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Perimeter Business PAGES 7-11

We’re listening

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Officers serve as LGBT liasions PUBLIC SAFETY 20

MAY 29 — JUNE 11, 2015 • VOL. 9 — NO. 11

I am so proud!

VALS & SALS 16-17

Buckhead CID moves forward with ‘overhead park’ study BY PAT FOX

PHIL MOSIER

Michelle Jones, North Atlanta High School Graduation Coach, greets students before commencement exercises at the Georgia World Congress Center on May 23. See additional graduation photos from area public and private high schools on pages 18-19.

PATH included in Ga. 400/I-285 project

Board members of the Buckhead Community Improvement District got their first glimpse of what a park built over Ga. 400 might look like. But it will be another two weeks before they learn whether the project can get off the ground. Two firms have been hired to develop feasibility studies on the project. They are Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, Calif., and Atlanta-based GreenRock Partners. Acknowledging that the project is nowhere near the design process, representatives from both firms provided a general outline of what they envision for the park. “I refer to it as ‘the art of the possible,’” said Monte Wilson of Jacobs Engineering. “What could happen here programmatically?” Following the presentation, CID Chairman David Allman recommended the engineers move forward with the feasibility study to determine its scope and a ballpark figure on its cost. That information should be gathered within a couple of weeks, Wilson said. The initial outline presented to the CID board on May 26 calls for the park to cross Peachtree and include the entrance to the Atlanta Financial Center. The idea, Wilson said, would be to make Peachtree part of the park, instead of bordering it. “You’re looking at about 10 acres … a significant piece of property,” Wilson said. Next to the gateway would be an active urban plaza, with a re-envisioned MARTA portal SEE BUCKHEAD, PAGE 5

BY JOE EARLE

joeearle@reporternewspapers.net

State and local government officials say they have worked out a way to pay for an extension of PATH400 through the Ga. 400/I-285 interchange. Sandy Springs City Council is including $1 million in the city’s 2016 budget to pay part of the cost of including a segment of the multi-use trail in the redesign and reconstruction of the Ga. 400/I-285 intersection. Other money for the $4 to $5 million project will come from the PATH Foundation and the Georgia Department of Transportation, representatives of those groups said. Eventually, officials said, the trail could connect to PATH400 in Buckhead and to other trails extending north of I-285. That would tie Sandy Springs into a network of trails, including Atlanta’s BeltLine, Mayor Rusty Paul said. “A lot of people are interested in connecting by bicycle,” Paul said. “The more people we can get to work [by bike], the fewer cars we’ve got on the streets.” Sandy Springs Assistant City Manager Bryant Poole said

the trail segment included in the Ga. 400/I-285 project would run from Johnson Ferry Road to Peachtree-Dunwoody Road. The Perimeter Center Improvement Districts plan to widen Peachtree-Dunwoody to add bike and car lanes as it runs beneath I-285. PATH Foundation Executive Director Ed McBrayer said the extension “was essential for us to get the trail through the Ga. 400/I-285 intersection because we are trying to connect the area with trails.” “We’re really connecting the whole Perimeter Center and Sandy Springs down to PATH400,” he said. The first half-mile-long segment of PATH400 opened in Buckhead earlier this year and another portion is under construction. Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Transportation is planning a complete overhaul of the Ga. 400/I-285 intersection that is expected to cost nearly $1 billion. Federal authorities have agreed that the proposed SEE NEW PATH, PAGE 3

SPECIAL

Monte Wilson of Jacobs Engineering, left, and Jay Scott of GreenRock Partners show an early rendering of the park.


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