Proposed concrete bicycle path
What's this about?
DeKalb County, Emory University and the PATH Foundation are proposing to install a 12-foot-wide concrete path along the creek that runs behind the Castle Falls loop in Victoria Estates. Each of these entities have their reasons for wanting to push this through. It’s fair to say, though, that none of them will live with the results the way that the Victoria Estates neighborhood will.
After meeting with the PATH Foundation, our neighbors have discovered that there are no current plans to explore alternative routes to overcome significant flaws in the planning—or to hire an ecologist to study potential environmental impacts. Indeed, PATH Foundation officers admit that they have not even considered hiring an ecologist despite needing to understand the environmental impact.
The sewer repair work in this area does not provide a free pass for this project’s proponents to avoid considering other options. And while a goal of greater recreation space sounds nice, the permanent damage it will cause to one of the city’s last pristine, old growth forests far outweighs potential benefits.
The issues
The Environment
The Environment
The Environment
The environmental impact of a 12-foot wide impervious band of concrete along a fragile river bank raises serious alarms.
- The area is covered in old-growth forest, documented by the David R. Kaufman book Peachtree Creek.
- The Emory Committee on the Environment has gone on record opposing this path.
- The stretch of the South Fork that runs behind our neighborhood has seen serious erosion and often floods its banks.
- This area is home to a heron nesting site. The wild green space includes not only native and rare plants but also many animals who are vital to our ecosystem, including fox, snakes, beaver, deer, and hawks.
- Although no trail has been "set in concrete" yet, no one has addressed the riparian buffer required by State of Georgia, DeKalb County, or City of Atlanta. Ranging from 25-75 feet measured perpendicularly from the creek, hard to understand how this can be accomplished.
- "It is vital that Emory students stand together in efforts of environmental advocacy like opposing the PATH Foundation proposal that will ignore the harsh realities of soil compaction and erosion in favor of a visually appealing paved trail. The Student Government Association, which has already indicated strong opposition to the proposal on March 26 through Resolution 56s102, and College Council need to take further actions based on students’ beliefs and perspectives to make the correct decision for our community and the environment’s future. While it may be less popular to strip an aesthetic pathway away from students, ultimately, leisurely activities and desires should not overshadow the conservation and protection of threatened species and their natural habitats." Emory Wheel Editorial Board, March 29, 2023
Broken Promises
The Environment
The Environment
The $280,000 study was approved by DeKalb County by consent agenda.
Issues:
- Consent agenda items are those without opposition. But our neighborhood informed DeKalb County, Emory and the Path Foundation that we had deep concerns about the proposed path. Nonetheless, it was placed on the consent agenda for county approval (and was approved) on December 13, 2022, despite the known presence of a representative from Victoria Estates who had made it clear to the clerk and to our commissioner that we have objections.
- Part of that study stipulates that DeKalb County will be responsible for “Coordination with property owners for permission to access the project’s corridor for surveying, environmental delineations, and all site walks.” Yet, several neighbors have been surprised to find drones surveying their properties without any notice.
- When the Emory Conference Center was built in the early ’90s, Emory promised that “. . . the remaining 22 acres of virgin forest will be designated a preserve to be used by Emory for field research and instruction. The 22 acres will be maintained for that purpose . . .”
By supporting this development, Emory is breaking the promise it made more than 30 years ago to the Victoria Estates neighborhood.
Tranquility
Tranquility
Tranquility
The value of your home is not measured merely in dollars and cents. Imagine choosing a home with ample green space and privacy in the backyard and discovering that a project will now threaten that very thing. Issues include:
- The foot/bike/motorized bike and scooter traffic along the trail will affect the privacy and tranquility of the Victoria Estates homes that overlook it. Consider the noise on the Mason Mill Park path, which would connect to this proposed path.
- Consider how people will access the path. The lack of available parking at Hahn Woods means that Victoria Estates neighbors on Mason Mill can expect to see increased parking from those seeking access to the path.
Security
Tranquility
Tranquility
Victoria Estates is a friendly neighborhood whose neighbors enjoy walking and strolling through the neighborhood, conversing with others and catching up on local news. This is in large part because we know our neighbors. We know who lives here.
- Once we have introduced a transportation corridor along the creek, we will no longer have that knowledge. Why is that person in a neighbor’s backyard?
- The path would be accessible 24/7.
- This is a safety and a security concern, especially for those who border the trail.
- https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/pregnant-woman-stabbed-brookhaven-emergency-surgery
- https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2007/07/13/year-local-womans-death-spawns-trail/
When trees are cut, vegetation removed, and impervious surfaces installed, rainfall is channeled quickly into the creeks with little ground absorption. The rain also washes fertilizer and pesticides . . . into the waterways.
David R. Kaufman, Peachtree Creek (UGA Press, 2007)
