By MARIA SAPORTA / Staff
Utoy Creek glistens in the sun as it meanders through a beautiful
100-acre forested tract in southwest Atlanta slated to become a city park.
Across the road, a zoning notice for a new subdivision is posted on
property equally covered with trees in a community near Cascade Road
outside I-285 and inside the city limits of Atlanta.
Protecting green space in metro Atlanta means staying a step ahead of
developers.
A key organization helping the region preserve land is the
Conservation Fund, which is holding its national board meeting in Atlanta
today and Tuesday.
Through partnerships with local governments and charitable
foundations, and donations from individuals and property owners, the
Conservation Fund has helped protect 34,000 acres in Georgia.
Most of that acreage has been in South Georgia, but now the
Conservation Fund's new leaders are focusing more on urban areas.
In office for less than a year, Chairman Charles Jordan is the retired
director of parks and recreation for Portland, Ore. As an African-American,
Jordan wants to broaden the conservation movement to include blacks and
Hispanics.
"We are pretty well convinced that there's no way we can win this
environmental war without all hands on deck," Jordan said, adding that
conservation applies to all communities. "Everyone either lives upstream or
downstream."
Within Atlanta's city limits, the Conservation Fund owns or has under
contract six properties that would add 143 acres of parkland, said Andrew
Schock, the fund's project coordinator for Georgia.
The largest, by far, is the Utoy Creek land Herbert Greene is selling
for $1.2 million, even though it is worth nearly $1.7 million. (Greene will
be able to get tax credits for the difference as a charitable donation.)
The Conservation Fund plans to clean up the property and sell it to
the city for a park. The city will buy it with money from the governor's
green space program, grants from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and
funds for land acquisition along riverbeds --- money set aside as part of a
legal settlement on Atlanta's sewer pollution.
Most of the new parkland is in southwest Atlanta, but it also includes
a pocket park near East Lake and a 2.5-acre tract in northwest Atlanta.
Mayor Shirley Franklin says more parkland is available south of I-20
because the area is less developed than the Northside. She has advocated
doubling park space in the city to 6,000 acres during the next 10 years.
"Every 100-acre or 200-acre site that we can acquire through donations
and partnerships is a long-term benefit for Atlanta," Franklin said.
Three years ago, the Blank foundation worked with the Conservation
Fund to map out an inventory of existing green space inside I-285. The
foundation then created its green space initiative --- committing up to $30
million over three years --- to acquire and maintain parkland in the
central city.
Its largest grant was to the Conservation Fund --- $2.15 million ---
to create a revolving fund to seize on chances to buy land.
"It gives them the opportunity to move quickly when they know there's
a project that might be in danger," said Margaret Gray, who heads up
environmental grants for the Blank foundation. "The Conservation Fund has
been a leader in this work both locally and nationally. We have a great
partnership with them."
Under the direction of regional Vice President Rex Boner, the
Conservation Fund also has been instrumental in acquiring land around
Arabia Mountain in DeKalb County. Jordan refers to it as one of his
favorite projects nationally.
In that case, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones and U.S. Rep. Denise
Majette (D-Ga.) have been key players --- just the kind of diversity Jordan
loves to have in the conservation movement.
"That's why Atlanta is so exciting to us," Jordan said. "We are not
just protecting land and water. We are hoping the public will take notice
of the economic development part of this."
In Jordan's view, the economic vitality of urban areas is tied to a
city's ability to provide clean and safe public parks.
"Urban parks have never really gotten their due," Jordan said. "I
think Shirley has a real challenge here, but also a real opportunity"
because more people are moving intown and seeking a higher quality of life.
"There's a resurgence in the urban area. And people of color are
urban people," he said. "They prefer to recreate closer to home."
Atlanta has another major tie to the Conservation Fund. Rutherford
Seydel, an Atlanta attorney who has been involved in development deals and
who last week become one of the owners of the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta
Thrashers, is the organization's vice chairman.
"Rutherford has an incredible mind and heart," said Jordan, who
admitted having to push Seydel into accepting the post. "He also brings a
dimension to the board that I don't have because he knows real estate so
well."
Although much of the news regarding parks and green space in metro
Atlanta and Georgia has been about too little money and too much sprawl, it
is comforting to know there are forces at work trying to preserve open
space for generations to come.
And while the state seems to be moving away from a green space program
that targets the most rapidly developing urban areas in favor of larger,
rural tracts, it's equally comforting to have a national organization like
the Conservation Fund and a major local philanthropist like Arthur Blank
and his family making sure our cities have places where people can enjoy
the serenity of nature.
