The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to pay a Peoplestown homeowner nearly $1 million to settle an eight-year-old legal dispute to build a flood-prevention park in the neighborhood.
The city filed suit against the Agard family in 2016 during then-Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration after the Agards and other homeowners refused to sell their properties.
In 2014, Reed had encouraged the use of eminent domain to take more than 20 homes in Peoplestown to build the flood barrier.
The Agards will receive $925,000, which includes $200,000 already placed in a Fulton County Superior Court trust account for the purchase of the property.
The city still intends to build an underground stormwater vault covered by a water retention garden and pond in Peoplestown to alleviate chronic flooding and sewage issues.
During public comment before the meeting, two Peoplestown residents accused Mayor Andre Dickens and the city for continuing to lie to homeowners about the fate of their homes.
“We’ve been hearing lies after lies,” Peoplestown resident Bertha Darden said. “Where’s the data for the taking of the 27 homes? Where is the data? Prove it or leave us alone because it’s not fair.”
Other items approved Monday include:
• An amendment to the city charter to add the responsibility for audited city departments to submit quarterly reports with supporting documentation to the City Auditor’s Office to track and report on the implementation of audit recommendations. This was the third of three required readings for the charter amendment.
• An ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute a ground lease agreement with the Atlanta Police Foundation for property located at 2175 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for a term not to exceed 50 years to be used for an At-Promise Youth Community Center serving at-risk youth.
• An ordinance authorizing the city’s chief financial officer to create all necessary funds and project numbers to support an additional $22.5 million from the federal government for the 2021 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program 1 re-allocation.
• An ordinance authorizing an amendment to an agreement with United Way of Greater Atlanta Inc. for COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program Administration services to extend the term to Dec. 31, 2022, at an amount not to exceed $21 million, and modify the agreement to reflect terms required for use of the funds.
• A resolution urging Congress to adopt common sense gun reform measures. This item was immediately approved.
• A resolution requesting that Invest Atlanta review previously approved projects for the development of affordable or workforce housing and consider revising the amount of subsidies due to the current rate of inflation and increased construction costs.
• A resolution emphasizing the support of the council for the development of a multi-modal transportation hub with AMTRAK regarding the opportunity represented by the redevelopment efforts in the Gulch property being developed as Centennial Yards.
• A resolution requesting that the mayor’s office, Atlanta Housing, and Invest Atlanta study the creation of a formal and overarching intergovernmental agreement to cooperatively maximize the use of public sector resources to ensure the creation of sufficient affordable housing units to meet the needs of Atlanta.
• An ordinance to amend the city’s code of ordinances to allow the Atlanta Police Department’s police chief to exercise the authority to designate, equip, and train non-sworn law enforcement employees, firefighters, and volunteers to assist in traffic control, and to direct and regulate the flow of traffic within Atlanta, including on the roadways at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
