Following a meeting with members of the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy leadership, neighborhood leaders and Councilmember Yolanda Adrean on Feb. 22, Mayor Kasim Reed announced an aggressive approach to solving the flooding problems that have plagued the park and the Peachtree Creek basin.
In a statement to the media, Reed said in the next 10 days he, senior members of the administration and expert engineers will meet with conservancy members and other neighborhood leaders at key problem areas inside Memorial Park and along Peachtree Creek. Following the site visit, the engineers will develop a list of recommended solutions for consideration by the mayor, the city council and the conservancy leadership team.
“The health and safety of Atlanta residents is this administration’s top priority,” Reed said in the statement. “We have been and continue to be focused on fixing the sewage overflows in our creeks and parks. Our approach is holistic, which can be both expensive and time-consuming, and not always clear that progress is being made underground.”
Reed has already directed the city’s Department of Watershed Management to accelerate the $30 million Peachtree Trunk Stabilization Capital Improvement Project that is in the procurement pipeline right now. In 2014, the city completed the $45 million Peachtree Creek Capacity Relief Storage Tank and Pump Station that is designed to alleviate sewer overflows during heavy rain in the Peachtree Creek basin. The tank just west of Cheshire Bridge Road and bordering the CSX rail right-of-way stores up to 10 million gallons of water and is equipped with a state-of-the-art self-cleaning and odor control system.