Atlanta to use eminent domain for Beltline expansion | www.myajc.com

The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved the use of eminent domain for 10 properties in Southwest Atlanta to make way for the Atlanta Beltline.

The move marks the first time Atlanta officials may use the controversial practice to grow the development project which aims to transform blighted land into a 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

Atlanta officials plan to use seven of the parcels to expand Enota Park in the Westview community. The other three parcels will enable the city to build the two-mile Southwest Connector Trail, linking John A. White Park to the Beltline.

George Dusenbury, commissioner of the city’s parks, recreation and cultural affairs department, said eminent domain is a last-resort option.

“Our hope is always to be able to negotiate,” Dusenbury said, noting that most properties are abandoned lots and no one is displaced by the move.

“Unfortunately there’s no other way to fulfill the promise of the Beltline,” he said.

The Trust for Public Land, a greenspace nonprofit, and the Atlanta Beltline Inc. have worked to secure the necessary properties since the mid-2000s, he said. A year ago, city officials began direct negotiations with property owners, a task that proved difficult because many lots are abandoned or tied up in tax liens and litigation.

Of the roughly 20 parcels needed to expand Enota Park, only a third will be acquired through eminent domain, Dusenbury said.

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