City Councilmember Madeleine Simmons will discuss Brookhaven Park, a site of a longstanding disagreement with DeKalb County about a potential library site, during her monthly town hall.
The virtual meeting will be Monday, Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. and can be watched on Facebook Live here or Zoom here.
DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader, who disagrees with city officials on the park’s use, will join her for the conversation.
Brookhaven Park, half of which is owned by the county and the other half by the city, is being considered as the site of a new county library despite objections from city officials.
The DeKalb County Library Board of Trustees wrote a letter to the city saying it wanted to build the new Brookhaven library at 4518 Peachtree Road, the back portion of Brookhaven Park owned by the city.
Councilmember Bates Mattison, who was replaced by Simmons, said city residents wanted the park to have as much green space as possible, according to the 2018 parks bond vote. He proposed the Brookhaven-Ogelthrope MARTA property be considered as a possible location.
The county almost sold its portion of the park to the city for $2.2 million in 2018, but the deal was never finalized. Rader said because the county already owns that property, it would financially be the best spot for the library.
The city has $6 million allocated for updates to Brookhaven Park as part of its $40 million parks bond program. Part of those funds would have been used to buy the county’s portion of the park if the deal went through.