Appendix 5 Atlanta BeltLine Master Plan SUBAREA 2 Heritage Communities of South Atlanta PEOPLESTOWN PARKS MASTER PLAN Prepared for Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. by Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates with Smith Dalia Architects Adopted by the Atlanta City Council on March 16, 2009 this page left intentionally blank this report has been formatted to be printed double-sided in an effort to save paper ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Honorable Mayor Shirley Franklin ATLANTA CITY COUNCIL Lisa Borders, President Clara Axam, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.; MARTA Board of Directors Carla Smith, District 1 Ray Weeks, Chair of the BeltLine Partnership Board; CEO, Kwanza Hall, District 2 Weeks Properties Ivory Lee Young, Jr., District 3 Elizabeth “Liz” Coyle, Community Representative Cleta Winslow, District 4 SUBAREA 2 STEERING COMMITTEE Natalyn Mosby Archibong, District 5 George Dusenbury, Park Pride Anne Fauver, District 6 LaShawn M. Hoffman, NPU V Howard Shook, District 7 Shauna Mettee, Capitol View Manor Neighborhood Clair Muller, District 8 Mtamanika Youngblood, Annie E. Casey Foundation Felicia A. Moore, District 9 Donna Tyler, CAMP CDC C.T. Martin, District 10 Tiffany Thrasher, Resident Jim Maddox, District 11 Steve Holland, Capitol View Joyce Sheperd, District 12 Helen Jenkins, Pittsburgh Community Improvement Ceasar C. Mitchell, Post 1 at Large Association Mary Norwood, Post 2 at Large John Armour, Peoplestown H. Lamar Willis, Post 3 at Large Rosa Harden-Green, SW Study Group Coordinator Jared Bagby, Peoplestown ATLANTA BELTLINE, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike Wirsching, Adair Park Neighborhood Calvin “Cal” Darden, Chair Greg Burson, Peoplestown The Honorable Shirley Franklin, Vice Chair, City of Atlanta Mayor Carl Towns, Pittsburgh Civic League The Honorable Jim Maddox, Atlanta City Council District 11 Chrishette Carter, Chosewood Park Neighborhood Association Joseph A. Brown, Director of Equity/Structured Finance, Centerline Capital Group Sam Sparlin, Sparlin Clinic LaChandra Butler, Atlanta Board of Eduction District 5 William Teasley, NPU V The Honorable Emma Darnell, Fulton County Board of Ruben Burney, NPU X Commissioners District 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ATLANTA BELTLINE INC. STAFF CONSULTANT TEAM James Alexander, Project Manager Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh and Associates Tina Arbes, Chief Operating Offi cer Caleb Racicot, Principal Nathan Conable, Senior Project Manager Jeff Owen, Community Planner Rukiya S. Eaddy, Community Engagement Advocate Woody Giles, Community Planner Terri Montague, President and CEO Ryan Jenkins, Landscape Architect E. Fred Yalouris, Director of Design Alex Nagel, Landscape Architect Grice and Associates CITY OF ATLANTA STAFF John Funny, Principal Jonathan Lewis, Senior Planner Carla Holmes, Principal Matthew Dickison, Senior Planner William Haynes, Senior Associate Paul Taylor, Deputy Director of Park Design James Cheeks, Senior Transportation Engineer W.F. He, Senior Traffi c Engineer Dain Pallard, ITS Engineer Smith Dalia Architects Markham Smith, Principal Ed Atkins, Architect Beth Grashof, Historic Consultant Long Engineering Shepherd Long, Vice President Michael VanBriggle, Associate CONTENTS 1.0 Preface 1 1.1 Purpose 1 1.2 BeltLine Planning Efforts 1 1.3 Master Planning Process 1 2.0 Site Inventory 2 2.1 Overview 2 2.2 Peoplestown Parks 2 2.3 Neighborhood History 2 2.4 Previous Park Plans 3 2.5 Four Corners Park 5 2.6 DL Stanton Park 8 2.7 Boynton Avenue Site 10 3.0 Needs Analysis 11 3.1 Successful Urban Parks 11 3.2 Opportunities and Constraints 11 3.3 Summary of Community Input 12 4.0 Concept Development 13 4.1 Concept Process 13 4.2 Four Corners Park Options 13 4.3 DL Stanton Park Options 16 5.0 Master Plan 19 5.1 Overview 19 5.2 Four Corners Park Master Plan 20 5.3 DL Stanton Park Master Plan 23 5.4 Connecting the Parks 25 6.0 Implementation 28 6.1 Phasing 28 this page left intentionally blank this report has been formatted to be printed double-sided in an effort to save paper 1.0 Preface 1.1 Purpose The Peoplestown Parks Master Plan is a long-term vision and strategy for enhancing DL Stanton and Four Corners parks in a manner that responds to community desires and capitalizes on proximity to the proposed BeltLine - a multi-decade effort to integrate parks, land use, and mobility along a 22- mile loop of historic railroads that ring Atlanta’s core. The plan provides a framework for short and long- term park improvements, and suggests responses to adjacent existing and future land uses. The Peoplestown Park Master Plan is one of several park planning efforts along the BeltLine. At Parks can have a long-term positive impact on surround- completion, the BeltLine will connect the two parks ing neighborhoods. This photo shows Brooklyn, New York’s to 45 of the city’s neighborhoods and the more Prospect Park, which was built before the city grew around it. It continues to infl uence surrounding development. than 100,000 people that currently live within half a mile of the corridor. By improving existing parks As a result of these coordinated efforts, this master and creating new ones, a seamless system of public plan describes and plans for both internal and open spaces will be created that establishes a high external factors impacting the parks. It considers quality of life in Atlanta for centuries to come. surrounding existing land uses and transportation facilities, as well as potential future ones. By doing this, a parks vision is established that can meet “There are no world class cities the needs of the surrounding neighborhood both without world class parks.” today and many years in the future. - Leon S. Eplan 1.3 Master Planning Process 1.2 BeltLine Planning Efforts The planning process used to develop the Peoplestown Park Master Plan involved several The Parks Master Plan has been developed steps. These included a review of previous park concurrent with and integrated into a larger land planning efforts, an inventory and analysis of use and transportation planning effort for BeltLine existing conditions, stakeholder and community subarea 2: Heritage Communities of South Atlanta. interviews, draft concept creation and testing, and Subarea 2 consists of the portion of the BeltLine the development of final recommendations and south of Downtown Atlanta, between Hill Street implementation plans. and Murphy Avenue. Guiding this process was a Steering Committee A key element of BeltLine area planning is made up of representatives of key area organizations, creating a beneficial relationship between parks, as well as a Study Group made up of members of transportation, and land use. Parks cannot be the general public. A series of meetings was held properly designed without considering access throughout the process to allow both groups from surrounding land uses, while land uses and review and comment opportunities. transportation facilities cannot achieve their highest potential without proximity to parks. 1 PEOPLESTOWN PARKS MASTER PLAN • March 16, 2009 SUBAREA 2 2.0 Site Inventory 2.1 Overview This section contains an inventory and analysis of existing conditions in the Peoplestown Parks as they existed in early 2008. These conditions have been compiled from site visits, previous N plans, community comments, and existing data Montgomery Ferry Stop Ansley Stop Amsterdam Ave. Stop Piedmont Park Stop sources and services. They were then analyzed Greeenwood Ave. Stop Ponce Park Stop North Ave. Park Stop to understand existing conditions and provide a Elizabeth Ave. Stop Irwin Ave. Stop Decatur Street Stop Cabbagetown Stop baseline for park improvement efforts. Inman Park Stop Reynoldstown Stop Memorial Drive Stop Glenwood Ave. Stop Ormewood Park Stop Confederate Ave. Stop 2.2 Peoplestown Parks Boulevard/Grant Park Stop Cherokee Stop Hill Street Stop Carver Stop Peoplestown Pryor Road Stop University Ave. Stop Metropolitan Parkway Stop The Peoplestown Parks consist of two existing Adair Park Stop Murphy Triangle Stop Lawton Street Stop City of Atlanta Parks: DL Stanton Park and West End/RDA Station Westview Station Ashview Heights Stop Mozley Park Stop Four Corners Park. Both neighborhood parks Washington Park Stop Simpson Road Stop Hollowell Parkway Stop are located at the southern end of Atlanta’s Howell Station Stop MarieĴ a Boulevard Stop Blandtown Stop Howell Mill Stop Peoplestown neighborhood, where they occupy Northside Drive Stop Collier Road Stop Peachtree Stop a strategic transition between the existing Lindbergh Stop Armour Stop historic neighborhood and the redevelopment Figure 6.1 Overall Framework Plan. opportunities near the BeltLine. Users of both parks 36 / VISION FOR THE BELTLINE REDEVELOPMENT PLAN • NOVEMBER 2005 tend to be neighborhood residents. This effort builds on the vision of the 2005 Atlanta BeltLine Redevelopment Plan and is produced in conjunc- With just over a quarter-mile of primarily tion with current BeltLine planning efforts undeveloped land separating them, their proximity offers an opportunity to plan for both parks in a unified manner. 2.3 Neighborhood History DL Stanton and Four Corners Parks are key focal points of the Peoplestown neighborhood - a historic in-town Atlanta community located one mile south of Downtown. It lies south of I-20, east of I-75/85, and north of the BeltLine. The diverse neighborhood grew up around a Victorian-era trolley that ran along Capitol Avenue (now Hank Aaron Drive). It was built primarily as housing for lower, middle, and upper income residents. Wealthier families were concentrated along the major paved, tree-lined streets, while poorer ones lived in dwellings at the rear of the lots accessed via alleys. The neighborhood was originally largely white, but there were segregated The Peoplestown neighborhood includes both Four Corners Park and DL Stanton Park, both within the BeltLine Tax Al- African American communities within it. These were location District redevelopment area (shaded in orange) 2 SUBAREA 2 PEOPLESTOWN PARKS MASTER PLAN characterized by smaller lots and houses, unpaved roads and a lack of utilities until around 1930. Like many Atlanta neighborhoods, Peoplestown has changed over the years.