The Atlanta City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the city to accept a $960,000 grant from the Housing Authority, awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to administer the Bowen Choice Neighborhood Grant.
The grant will help the City of Atlanta revitalize the 74-acre Bowen Homes neighborhood, which has been abandoned for more than a decade. The property was once home to one of the city’s largest public housing projects and became notorious for crime.
The city plans to build 2,000 rental and ownership units in the previously abandoned area. Developers are also planning to construct a Community Resources Center and Innovation Hub that will offer Bowen Homes’ residents affordable commercial space and job-training opportunities.
Other items on the agenda include:
• An ordinance to execute an amendment of the Lighting Services Agreement between the Atlanta Department of Transportation and Georgia Power Company to add funding to install additional streetlights at critical locations and to upgrade additional streetlights to LED lighting as part of the City’s Light up the Night initiative.
• A resolution authorizing a project management agreement for the Atlanta Department of Transportation with the Westside/Howell Mill Community Improvement District for a sidewalk installation project on Chattahoochee Avenue for $1.9 million.
• A resolution establishing a Fire Station Design Committee to create a discussion between the Department of Enterprise Asset Management and the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department for fire station design and architectural phase recommendations.
• A resolution authorizing a $250,000 donation to FCS Urban Ministries to help implement the Thomasville Heights Neighborhood Plan and other initiatives.
Items were introduced for consideration in committee, including:
• A resolution authorizing a project management agreement with the PATH Foundation for the Silver Comet Connector in an amount not to exceed $500,000.
• A resolution to create a commission to determine an appropriate way to honor former Mayor Shirley Franklin, the first woman to hold the office.
• A resolution authorizing a $3 million donation from the housing trust fund to Partners for Home (PFH) to support the provision of quick-delivery housing for the city’s unhoused residents in participation in the rapid housing initiative and to authorize PFH to utilize funds to cover the costs of any other housing construction.
• A resolution authorizing a $300,000 donation to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation.
• An ordinance to accept a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Dislocated Worker Program grant for $1.6 million.