Friday, September 19, 2008

County OKs Tax Districts Cooperation: Fulton County Joins City Effort To Redevelop Four Areas In South Atlanta 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By D.L. Bennett 

11 October 2007

Fulton County has joined Atlanta in its efforts to redevelop four south and southwest Atlanta commercial areas.

By approving four tax allocation districts, the county pledged its share of new property taxes collected inside each area to the city's efforts to attract development.

The areas being targeted run along three major roadways, Campbellton Road, Metropolitan Parkway, Hollowell Parkway plus an area near Turner Field.

The county's cooperation came as welcome news to nearby residents, who pleaded with county commissioners to join the efforts to help save their struggling neighborhoods.

"We have worked so hard to help our community to get better on a day-to-day basis," said Laurel Rummel, an 8-year resident of Capitol View Manor. "Please help us."

Her neighborhood runs off Metropolitan Parkway, a run-down commercial area formerly known as Stewart Avenue. That name was once so notorious for prostitution, crime and drugs that the Atlanta City Council renamed the road in an attempt to give the area a jump start.

The other two commercial corridors have similar histories.

Hollowell Parkway, formerly Bankhead Highway, was renamed to honor a civil rights-era lawyer. The road parallels Interstate 20 south and west. It contains a series of pawnshops, liquor stores and well-worn storefronts.

Likewise, Campbellton Road, despite a widening project, continues to generate complaints from nearby residents for unkempt storefronts.

The Turner Field project stands apart because Atlanta officials hope to one day see residential high-rises, office buildings and other structures built on what today are huge parking areas that serve the stadium. Although Fulton commissioners approved the four areas, they were not initially that receptive. They've often been critical of Atlanta's many special purpose taxing districts and complained that Atlanta and other cities don't set aside enough affordable housing in their redevelopment plans.

Atlanta already has several such tax districts, including one along the city's proposed Beltline and in northwest Atlanta along Bolton Road where the Perry Homes housing project has been redeveloped.

Cities are only allowed to have up to 10 percent of their total tax base in tax allocation districts. With these four, Atlanta is now near its cap.

Property owners in Atlanta pay taxes to the city, Fulton County and the school system. The vote by county commissioners adds taxes collected for countywide services like libraries, courts and health centers to the Atlanta taxes already going into the TADS.

County Commissioner Emma Darnell complained that redevelopment will bring higher taxes to many residents who can't afford them.

"The day may come when I vote for higher taxes for depressed neighborhoods, but that day is not today," Darnell said. Commissioner Bill Edwards' objections were a little more personal.

"Everybody's always asking us to do things, but we never get any cooperation from anybody," Edwards said.

Atlanta council members, though, joined community leaders in saying the TADs were critical to bringing new life to previously downtrodden parts of the city.

"This is really a question about investment," said Councilman Ceasar Mitchell. "This is a question about partnership. This is about investment in south and southwest Atlanta. This is vital to growth and redevelopment."