On March 4, the Trust for Public Land marked the 20th anniversary of the ground-breaking “The Beltline Emerald Necklace: Atlanta’s New Public Realm” report with the launch of a successor, “The Emerald Necklace 2.0.”
At the afternoon event, Beltline pioneers Jim Irwin, David Edwards and former Mayor Shirley Franklin talked with Trust for Public Land Southeast Vice President George Dusenbury about how far the project has come – and what’s next for Atlanta’s crown jewel.
The newly-released “Emerald Necklace 2.0” builds on Alex Garvin’s 2005 park plan for the Atlanta Beltline. The Trust for Public Land hired Garvin to design and describe a vision of a circular yet linear green space along the corridor. In turn, Garvin created a plan to add 1,401 acres of parkland to the city and create a 22-mile linear park paid for with taxes on new development.
Shirley Franklin was mayor at the time. She was an early proponent of the Beltline, and Garvin’s plan helped her see its feasibility as a real project.
“He insisted, in a gentle way, that we had a good skeleton, but we didn’t really have a plan yet,”Franklin said.
Garvin passed away in 2021, but his plan created a funding system that was vital to the project. The money gathered from developments along the Beltline’s Tax Allocation District would pay for planned transit and trail systems. The TAD accounts for 40 percent of the Beltline’s funds and will expire in 2030. The trail system also receives money from federal, state, and local governments, as well as philanthropic support.
Part of the “Emerald Necklace 2.0” report focuses on how to secure future funding while making sure heavily taxed developments don’t push out legacy residents or limit affordable housing opportunities on and near the Beltline.
The report created seven “actionable recommendations.” The objectives include:
- Aggregate and link public spaces to create a parks system.
- Leverage watershed assets to advance the vision.
- Integrate public and private realms by encouraging mixed-use parks with private development amenities at park edges.
- Ensure former development enhances the Beltline by formally adopting a planning principle and creating more explicit design incentives.
- Leverage fallow properties and turn unused land like landfills into parks.
- Adopt strategies to build or preserve housing that will benefit the neighborhoods by expanding the legacy resident program, creating mandatory inclusionary zoning and letting residents lead local initiatives.
- Ensure the parks have a sustainable capital and maintenance plan by figuring out a way to increase funding.
When asked what the future of the Beltline should include, she listed neighborhood development and a financial model as top priorities.
“I think it would be a 50-year plan,” Franklin said.
Twenty-five years into the Beltline, the panelists reflected on its legacy and future. All three panelists said they did not expect a speedy rate of progress or development.ment.
In 2025, the Beltline will be 85 percent complete or under construction. It’s on track for a 2030 finish. It’s also set to exceed its goal of building or preserving 5,600 units of affordable housing by 2030.
Jim Irwin, a developer who helped create the popular mixed-use project Ponce City Market said the level of development was always a “hope” but not an expectation. Before the market was transformed into a popular food hall, he would take brokerage groups through the old Sears building and near the future Beltline destination. He said senior employees were doubtful — but the junior team saw the vision.
Years later, his vision was proven right. Ponce City Market is one of the city’s more popular food halls and shopping centers and is home to several corporate offices, including Pinterest and FanDuel.
“What Ponce did was it gave Atlanta, like, a destination, a place to be proud of and rally around, but it would not have gotten there without the Beltline,” Irwin said.
In the years since Ponce City Market opened its doors in 2014, Irwin has developed several properties around the Beltline. He has recently worked on the Overline Residences, Fourth Ward Offices & Retail, and Forth Hotel Atlanta. All are steps from Ponce City Market.
Founder and Co-Director of Center for Urban Research, Georgia Institute of Technology David Edwards said developments like Irwin’s have “exceeded expectations.”
“The economy has had $9 billion worth of investment in the adjacent neighborhoods,” Edwards said.
Like Franklin, Edwards is thinking ahead in “50-year increments.” He pointed to current Mayor Andre Dickens’ focus on neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing as part of this future plan.
The former mayor encouraged Dickens and future administrations to make “big, audacious” moves with the future of the Beltline.
Some topics were noticeably omitted from the panel discussion. Moderator Dusenbury told the crowd, which was made up of many Beltline stakeholders and early advocates, that transit was off-limits to the conversation. Notably absent? Ryan Gravel, who first proposed the transformation of Atlanta’s rail lines into a transit corridor connecting the city.
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