Here is the update I received from my Laurel Ridge yahoo group:

The county has officially selected a contractor for construction to improve the day-use area of Mason Mill Park (30033). The construction costs, not to exceed $2.1 million, will be funded by the county parks bond.

The improvements include a full-scale play area, new dog park, relocated parking spaces, and improved storm water management. The day-use construction is the first phase of a $7 million master plan for the entire park. To see the plans for the day-use area and the entire park, see links at the bottom. The plans reflect the consensus of county citizens at five public meetings from September 2008 to February 2010.

In conjunction with the day-use renovations, PATH has contracted for a path over the railroad tracks in Mason Mill Park in order to connect that park to Medlock Park.

I try to attend the Mason Mill meetings whenever possible, so I’ll be sure to keep you updated as I find out more.

To check out Mason Mill Park, visit 1340 McConnell Drive, Decatur 30033-3539. To stroll in the woods, continue on McConnell until it deadends into a gravel parking lot, where you can follow a walking trail into the woods, across the railroad tracks, across Burnt Fork Creek, and into the woods.

But enough of my pessimism, the plans to redevelop the “day use area” of Mason Mill Park show great promise. The day use area includes the current tennis courts, dog park, and fitness circle at the end of McConnell Drive (see a map here). This area seems to be the main focus for now (so I will save my energy for fighting to save the woods later) and I like the incorporation of more features while not losing the heart of the park’s value with the tennis courts and senior community center.  With playgrounds, picnic shelters, refurbished buildings, a community garden, water quality pond, a trail to the new library, and grassy, pervious surface parking lots, the new features have potential to revitalize the park.

Click the image for a detailed view of plan one for the Mason Mill Park day use area!

And click the image here for a detailed view of the second proposed plan for the Mason Mill Park redevelopment!

Want to weigh in your two cents? DeKalb Parks and Recreation is holding the next public information meeting regarding the redevelopment of Mason Mill Park next month.

• What: a public information meeting regarding Mason Mill Park redevelopment plans
• When: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Avis G. Williams / Toco Hill Library at 1282 McConnell Drive, Decatur, 30033 (map it!)
• Who: DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department and our Decatur neighbors in the surrounding communities
• For more information, contact Revonda Moody, Project Manager, at 404-687-3708.

A view looking north towards City Hall East on our Atlanta BeltLine urban hike this past Saturday. Click to see more photos of the walk, including a panoramic view of downtown as seen from the North Avenue bridge by the Masquerade!

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about the old Norfolk Southern railroad tracks coming up along the Atlanta BeltLine’s northeast corridor to make way for the new hiking path arriving in early 2010. We’ve done two major trash and underbrush clean-ups along this stretch (as well as in the West End), so I’m pretty familiar with isolated stretches, but this past Saturday morning I had the opportunity to walk a continuous three miles of the path from Piedmont Park to DeKalb Avenue with almost 30 other intrigued residents.

Eli Dickerson (of WonderRoot Urban Hiking) and Angel Poventud (BeltLine and Trees Atlanta volunteer extraordinaire) gathered our crew together behind Amsterdam Walk at the intersection of Monroe and Amsterdam in Morningside / Virginia Highland. Heading on the path up the hill behind the complex, we were greeted with a view of the Piedmont Park expansion, slated to be completed next year. We couldn’t hike north through the construction site to Ansley Park, but Angel gave us an overview and turned us around to head south.

The actual rails, dating back to the very early 1900′s, have been pulled up and set aside for future recycling, but the crossties are still in place for the most part. Everything is scheduled to be uprooted in the next several weeks and replaced with a mulch hiking trail in advance of the permanent concrete path to follow in the next few years. The walk itself transports you back in time, giving urban hikers a glimpse of Atlanta’s industrial past – the Terminus of old that was criss-crossed with tracks, railroad yards, industrial warehouses and factories.

For all those who complain about Atlanta traffic (and we all do), I highly suggest parking the car and taking a walk as the crow flies. It’s incredible how much ground you can cover on this flat railroad bed when you cut through neighborhoods, over and under major streets – a completely uninterrupted walk in the heart of Atlanta’s northeast quadrant. Not to mention the expasive, unique views of downtown and Midtown Atlanta – the old Sears building (now City Hall East) being one of the most notable. The path cuts directly beside the Historic Fourth Ward Park, a gem that is currently under construction from the Masquerade on North Avenue down to the skate park beneath Freedom Parkway. By next year, Historic Fourth Ward Park will sparkle with a new storm water retention pond (which will be as practical as it is aesthetically pleasing) along with almost eight miles of BeltLine trail open to the public.

This urban hike held another perk – the company. I had the pleasure of meeting (or getting to know better) a number of people – everyone with a varied background and different approach to their interest in the BeltLine.

• Robby Astrove, Program Coordinator with Trees Atlanta, has been the #1 advocate of the BeltLine Arboretum and has been actively working with schools along the BeltLine to “better connect students to nature through service and explorations… collective outdoor learning, student leadership opportunities, and hands-on projects..”(more to come on that in a future post!).
• Michael Bryan of Emory is studying the public health impact of the BeltLine and how having a network of trails can lower obesity and health issues due to increased walking and physical activity (side note: he would love to tackle green roofs and document the potential for them here in Atlanta – love it).
• Craig Durkin of Concrete Jungle has been mapping residential fruit trees across metro Atlanta, harvesting the fruits and nuts when in season, and donating the fresh produce to the Atlanta Community Food Bank (more to come on this project, too! I’ve read about what they’ve done in Portland and look forward to following Craig’s expansions). Check out his blog here, www.Concrete Jungle.com!
• Jack Walsh, in the small world that is Atlanta, is my neighbor and, as it turns out, is a producer and editor for Public Broadcasting Atlanta (we’ll see each other running in the morning and have crossed paths volunteering for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, but never talked about our day jobs). He was out on that cold morning to cover urban hiking and the hidden places that you can uncover. Look for the story to come out around April!
• Eli Dickerson and I also had the chance to talk more. We met initially at the Trees Atlanta Fall Fest where we had information tables next to each other (his had composting worms) and I found out that he works for Fernbank Science Center, a place near and dear to my heart. Stay tuned for more from WonderRoot Urban Hiking and more!
• And, of course, Angel – the fellow BeltLine volunteer who, in another small-world twist, is a CSX train conductor for the rail line that runs directly behind my house (home to the future Brain Train? we’ll see).

Ready to go on an urban hike yourself? Stay tuned to Angel’s facebook page or Eli’s blog – they happen just about every Saturday. And, come April of next year, prepare yourself for an all-day hike of the full 22-mile BeltLine loop!

BeltLine railroad tracks were pulled up and recycled last week behind Rathbun's Steak in Inman Park! (thanks to Lee Harrop for sending this photo along!)

…and say hello to the new walking trail that’s slated to go down in Atlanta’s northeast section of the BeltLine! Thanks to Lee Harrop, Program Management Officer for Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., for sending along this photo on November 15, 2009 after a large section of abandoned railway was removed and recycled.You can check out this future section of trails and transit by walking south along the tracks from Park Tavern at 10th Street and Monroe or stopping by one of the businesses on Krog Street in Inman Park – which is exactly what a group of us did on Friday evening.

A group of BeltLine staff and supporters gathered on the smoking patio of Rathbun’s Steak – informally renamed the BeltLine Patio – several of whom walked down the tracks from Piedmont Park. Kevin Rathbun even came out to say hello and ask about the latest in Atlanta’s biggest transportation project. Within a year or so, a hiking path will be installed and a previously overgrown stretch will become a high-traffic urban connection.

Keep up with photos and progress on the Atlanta BeltLine website or by joining over 1,500 other folks on the BeltLine facebook group!

• What: Fall in the 4th with live music, food & drinks, an artists’ market, and more!
• Where: by the Masquerade off of North Avenue and North Angier
• When: September 26th, 2009 from 12 – 7 p.m.
• Why: to raise money for the Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy

The Druid Hills Environmental Club is throwing the second party, which is their 3rd annual fundraiser for Trees Atlanta. Below is an announcement from Matthew Tyler of the Druid Hills Environmental Club:

I just wanted to let everyone know that there will be a benefit concert for Trees Atlanta, Fall Fest, on Saturday, September 26th at the Trees Atlanta headquarters! There will be a lot of great local bands food from Raging Burrito, and presentations from several organizations like Green Peace, the Georgia Conservancy, and WonderRoot. All ages are welcome (we are trying to get as much age diversity as possible this year), the music is family-friendly and there will be a lot of fun things to do for everyone. This is our third year and we are expecting 250+ people this year!

Here is the facebook page! Be sure to become a fan and be on the lookout for the event invitation and share it with everyone you know!

• What: Druid Hills Environmental Club’s Fall Fest with live music
• Where: Trees Atlanta’s Kendeda Center on Chester Avenue (map it!)
• When: September 26th, 2009 from 3 – 7:30 p.m.
• Cost: $10
• Why: to support Trees Atlanta and making Atlanta a greener, more environmentally-friendly city!

Mason Mill and Ira B. Melton Parks, near Medlock Park in DeKalb County, make up a 130+ acre park where Burnt Fork Creek and the South Fork of the Peachtree Creek intersect

Greenspace includes parks, nature preserves and recreational centers, all of which attract residents who increase local property values, and businesses that provide jobs. Greenspace also helps the community at large by lowering crime and reducing the cost of public services such as police protection, and sewer and road maintenance. Not only does our air quality benefit, but treating drinking water also becomes easier and more affordable if we allow the waterways and surrounding ecosystems to naturally cleanse themselves. However, the need for recreational opportunities is perhaps most important for the ever more sedentary, auto-dependent Atlanta area population. The trails, bike paths, and pedestrian ways provide citizens with a much-needed athletic outlet, as well as an alternative transportation route to the traffic-ridden, hazardous roads and highways.

As of October 2007 (the most recent statistics posted on their website), DeKalb Parks Bonds and Greenspace Program has purchased 2,708 acres for a total cost of $86.72 million, which is fantastic! But we have a long way to go. So how can we get involved? Click here for volunteer opportunities to help in DeKalb parks to help maintain current parks, adopt a park, and more!

In my neighborhood near Medlock Park, we have over 130 acres of nature preserve and parks between Mason Mill Park, Ira B. Melton Park, and Medlock Park. And then there’s Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve, too – which we all have a great appreciation for! For information on volunteering with the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve in particular, check out a previous blog post by clicking here and come out and volunteer the first Saturday of each month!

Even though it’s just a building, The Brookwood is contributing to the Atlanta community in many ways through its green standards. In fact, it’s slated to be Atlanta’s first residential high-rise to receive LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Brookwood on Peachtree Street will be Atlanta's first LEED certified high-rise building

Here are some other neat features about the building:

• A 3/4-acre green “Garden Terrace” level designed to harvest and re-circulate rainwater as irrigation via a 29,000 gallon cistern
• Dual-flush “European style” toilets and other plumbing fixtures that reduce water use by 20 percent annually over traditional fixtures
• Floorplans rotated 90° from ordinary condo layouts to maximize window space and decrease the need for artificial lighting
• Low VOC paints and CRI Green Label carpet used throughout
• A central recyclables chute
• Oil finished, FSC-approved hardwood floors
• A “healthy living”-inspired model home furnished and accessorized only in non-toxic, sustainable materials
• The Showhouse for the Cure to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation Greater Atlanta affiliate

The Brookwood has hosted numerous events for organizations like the Georgia Conservancy and the Atlanta Humane Society. Click here to see pictures of The Brookwood on facebook! If you’re interested, you can also set up a tour by contacting Katherine at 404-214-0716 or  kstrate@jacksonspalding.com.

Local Decatur Business Offers Home Performance Assessments

May 22, 2009 –Considering that 45% of Decatur and 61% of Atlanta homes were built before 1960, it’s not surprising that local homeowners are often faced with drafty windows and doors and leaky ducts, often resulting in high energy bills.

Renewal System Solutions – sister company of Decatur’s Renewal Design-Build – offers Home Performance with Energy Star, a comprehensive home assessment that reveals where and why a home is not energy efficient. With diagnostic equipment, Renewal can pinpoint a home’s problems and provide the homeowner with solutions. Home improvement services include: energy efficient renovations, HVAC systems, duct systems, crawl space encapsulation, insulation and air sealing, replacement window and doors, and combustion safety. Improvements to the home result in improved energy efficiency and air quality, and lower utility bills.

“Twenty percent of the energy produced in the United States is consumed by homes,” says Renewal CEO Peter Michelson. “By evaluating and making improvements to our homes, we as homeowners are protecting the environment by conserving energy, and we are saving money by cutting costs on our utility bills. It’s a win-win all around.”

Homeowners will not only save on utility bills, but they can also get cash in their pockets through rebates and tax credits. Georgia Power is now offering its customers Home Performance rebates, and there is a multitude of federal tax credits available to those homeowners making green improvements to their homes in 2009 and 2010. For more information on getting your home tested, visit www.RenewalSystemSolutions.com.

For information on RSS or RDB, call 404.378.6962 or visit www.RenewalDesignBuild.com or www.RenewalSystemSolutions.com. You can also contact: Joe Thomas, home performance consultant, at 404.378.6962 or Joe@RenewalSystemSolutions.com

View of the Bellwood Quarry from the platform built for the tour. The excavated area will be filled in to become a water reservoir with a 30-day water supply for the city of Atlanta. (photo courtesy of Christopher Martin)

After months of eager discussion around the office, I finally managed to get the majority of our zac team real estate agents and staff on the 30-passenger charter van and seated for our first official BeltLine tour at the end of March. Thunderstorms derailed a few tour-goers, but most of us braved the weather and the watery windows on the bus.

As the Atlanta BeltLine gains more and more traction, the already-popular tours are capturing a wider audience – and repeat visitors. The BeltLine project captives real estate agents, developers, investors, local Atlanta neighbors, and curious city planners across the country as we all watch the largest Atlanta transportation project unfold since Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The Atlanta Journal Constitution ran a front-page article yesterday on the BeltLine tours, which you can check out by clicking here!

Heather greeted our team as we boarded the bus with another group, but then Derrick Duckworth took over to relieve Heather to go tackle the bigger job of teaching a large group of young kids about the BeltLine project. The tour was wonderful – rain and all – and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the project and how it’s going to affect the face of Atlanta transit! I’ve been volunteering with the BeltLine for over a year now and following it for longer, and it was great to finally take the tour (although my family and I did the self-guided tour last year)!

Do it!

• What: guided tour of the Atlanta BeltLine
• When: Every Friday and Saturday morning from 9:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Where: the tour begins at the Inman Park MARTA station on Edgewood off of DeKalb Avenue and takes you on a charter bus around the anticipated 22 miles of transit and 33 miles of trails
• Sign up! Reserve your spot online on the Atlanta BeltLine website here!
• Can’t make the tour? Take the self-guided tour here!

Thanks to Heather Hussey-Coker, the author and director of the BeltLine tour and its guests, who worked with me over the course of a few months to reserve the seats for our team! And don’t forget, the BeltLine depends on the help of volunteers, so please consider

signing up to volunteer here!

The BeltLine Quarterly Briefing drew a crowded full house for the February 2009 meeting

On Friday, March 6th, AMTRAK laid down its sword in the battle over the Northeast Corridor (or “Decatur Belt”) of the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Yay! The BeltLine is no stranger to controversy or roadblocks, but to face a federal organization on the scale of AMTRAK (while the Georgia DOT did a 180 degree turn against the BeltLine) was a bit unnerving. So this is great news and the BeltLine is moving forward as planned!

Of course, at the Quarterly Briefing the week prior to the decision, you could hardly guess that the BeltLine was up against such a potentially damaging decision. As the Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. closes in on its first five-year planning phase, plans are as ambitious as ever. President and CEO Terri Montague outlined the BeltLine’s current priorities:

• To receive stimulus money. The BeltLine is a very versatile project of “regional and national significance,” with transit, housing, parks, etc. – all worthy of federal funds and reauthorization.
• Community benefits framework. This includes working with the TAD Advisory Board on first-source hiring when creating jobs around the BeltLine.
• Refinancing. The time is coming up to refinance the $64 million in bonds sold last October and to sell the next $60 million installment.
• BeltLine Master Planning. As the end approaches for the first five-year planning phase, it’s time to plan the next five years (including continued transit planning).
• Community Land Trusts. The goal is to set up an orgaization to head up community land trust development for both the BeltLine and the city of Atlanta.
• More parks & trails. Get ready for more ground-breaking on parks and trails this year! Some of the parks underway right now:

1. Historic Fourth Ward
2. Boulevard Crossing
3. DL Stanton
4. Four Corners
5. Murphy’s Crossing
6. Enota
7. Westside Reservoir (which will rival Piedmont Park in size with ~200 acres)

Of course, Terri did address the issue of AMTRAK and its threat to the BeltLine, but that’s a mute point now.

Rob Brawner and I have been working together for almost a year now on having volunteers help get the word out about the BeltLine by having the booth set up at local festivals. If you are interested in helping staff the booth, please email me! jenny.p@mac.com (Here we are in front of the wall of the booth)

Rob Brawner from the BeltLine Partnership presented the segment on the Capital Campaign (you can donate online on the BeltLine’s website) as well as upcoming events and the Equitable Development Plan (to ensure geographic balance, incentives for growth, advanced transit options, and affordable housing along all neighborhoods on the BeltLine). For more on the Partnership’s plans for 2009, please click here for a blog I posted previously!

We’re always looking for volunteers to help us spread the word about the BeltLine by manning the BeltLine booth at local festivals! We have an ambitious schedule this year and will need a lot of help. If you’re interested, please email me for more information (jenny.p@mac.com) or sign up on the BeltLine’s volunteer page here!

Mark your calendar for these upcoming events!

April 18th: BeltLine Clean-Up Day (click here to register!)
April 26th, 1-4 p.m.: BeltLine Bike Ride (click here to sign up!)
April 25th-26th: the BeltLine booth with be at the Inman Park Festival (click here for more information about volunteering for a shift at the BeltLine booth!)

Stay tuned for more details!

DeKalb County’s North Druid Hills Road Corridor will be the focus of a $120,000 study grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission.

The ARC recently announced that it is awarding six communities, including North Druid Hills, a total of $596,000 in grants to promote quality growth and enhance livability throughout the region.

The grants, issued through the ARC’s award-winning Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) program, are also being awarded to the cities of Atlanta, Griffin, Winder and Loganville, along with Cobb, and Henry counties. According to the ARC, these LCI grants will help the local governments design plans that will make these communities or corridors more mobile, walkable, livable and connected to a range of
services. Once plans are completed, these communities are then eligible for a larger pot of federal funding to implement their projects.

The study area for the North Druid Hills project encompasses a 2.5-mile stretch of the North Druid Hills corridor from Buford Highway to Clairmont Road. Over the past 60 years, North Druid Hills Road has evolved from a rural byway, to a suburban arterial, to a regional
commuter corridor between east metro Atlanta and employment centers in the Clifton Corridor and Buckhead. Locations along the corridor are facing substantial redevelopment pressure driven by the area’s centrality within the region, household income, density and a strong and growing local employment base. The LCI study will bring a shared vision for future direction in this corridor, taking into account the public interest and other opinions on the proper extent and location of new development and redevelopment. This study will directly address the density and transportation dilemmas facing residential and commercial developers. It will also look at traffic patterns, transportation alternatives and the need for educated involvement in decision-making along the North Druid Hills corridor.

“The LCI program has been transformative for many communities across the metro region,” said ARC Chairman Sam Olens. “LCI has helped these areas become quality magnets for residents and businesses alike, acting as a catalyst for positive change all around them.”

Since the first LCI grants were awarded in 2000, more than 84,506 residential units, 20 million square feet of commercial space and 35 million square feet of office space are either planned, under construction or complete in these areas. Region-wide, 67 percent of
all new office space has been built within LCI areas. And, LCI areas have attracted 8.5 percent of all new residential units and 21 percent of all new commercial development built in the region.

The goal of the LCI program, created in 1999, is to help local governments devise strategies that reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by better connecting homes, shops and offices, enhancing streetscapes and pedestrian amenities and improving access to transit options. With this latest round of grants, LCI has assisted 96 communities with more than $140 million in grant awards.

The other five 2009 LCI grant winners are:

• City of Atlanta with Cobb County (DL Hollowell-Veterans Memorial Corridor) $120,000
• City of Griffin (West Griffin Activity Center) $80,000
• City of Winder (Winder Town Center) $96,000
• City of Loganville (Loganville Town Center) $80,000
• Henry County (Hudson Bridge-Jonesboro Road Connector Activity Center) $100,000

The LCI program recently received two national awards: In January of this year, the American Planning Association (APA) bestowed its
National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation to the LCI
program. The award, considered by U.S. planners to be the
profession’s highest honor, will be presented at the association’s
annual conference in Minneapolis in April. In November, 2008, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized LCI with its 2008 National Award for Smart Growth.

Southwest Study Group Meeting BeltLine Subarea 1 Master Plan Launch and Orientation

Meeting Purpose: Introduction to the BeltLine, Smart Growth and Master Planning

When: Thursday, January 29th from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Where: Hammonds House Museum 503 Peeples Street, Atlanta, GA, 30310

Northeast Study Group Meeting: BeltLine Subarea 6 Master Plan Draft

Meeting Purpose: To review and provide input on the SA 6 Draft Master Plan

When: Thursday, February 12th from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Where: Hillside 690 Courtenay Dr. NE or 1301 Monroe Dr. NE Atlanta, GA 30306

BeltLine Quarterly Briefing

Meeting Purpose: Update on BeltLine Activities

When: Thursday, February 26th, 2009 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where: Atlanta Public Schools Auditorium 130 Trinity Avenue Atlanta, GA 30303

Want to learn more about the Atlanta BeltLine project? Visit the website here!
Want to see the BeltLine up close and personal? Take a tour and see where exactly the trails, transit, and parks are going to be and to find out the latest developments! Click here to sign up for a tour!
Already know all about the BeltLine and want to help spread the word and bring the project into reality? Click here to sign up to volunteer!