County Creating New Park Off Briarcliff Road

The DeKalb County Natural Resources Management Office recently bought 4.7 acres of property located at Briarcliff Road and Chrysler Drive for conversion into parkland.

In January, the county purchased the property at 1996 Chrysler Drive in Atlanta for $275,000, negotiating with the former property owner to reduce the purchase price to cover the cost of all cleanup and restoration efforts.

Prior to the purchase, the Natural Resouces Management Office sumitted an application to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to receive a Limitation of Liability under the Georgia Brownfields Program. The Limitation of Liability provides prospective property purchasers an opportunity to identify and mitgate environrmental issues on a property and redevelop unusable parcels of land.

The county retained an envirornmental contractor to perform a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment that identified three 55-gallon drums in a drainage ditch behind the home. A second assessment revealed potential impacts from the drums, including cadmium and aresenic found in the soil at amounts slightly exceeding Georgia regulatory standards. Following the assessments, the county immediately implemented cleanup and restoration efforts.

“I commend our Natural Resources Management Office for its unwavering dedication to transform an environmental hazard into a safe neighborhood greenspace,” county CEO Burrell Ellis said. “We will continue to pursue innovative projects such as this one to ensure DeKalb lives up to its vision of being the Greenest Urban County in America and the place where your future lives.”

Cleanup and restoration efforts are projected to be completed in one year based on permits required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Georgia EPD and other regulatory agencies. Following completion of the restoration and final approval from Georgia EPD, the county will host public meetings for community input on the future development of the greenspace.

This article was provided by the county and edited for publication.