The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to adopt The Stitch Master Plan at its meeting on June 16.
The project will create approximately 17 acres of new community park space atop a ¾-mile platform spanning the Downtown Connector between Ted Turner Drive and Piedmont Avenue. The Stitch was informed by an eighteen-month process that included over 20 community engagement events and feedback from over 6,000 individuals and has been developed in partnership with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.
This step forward in the development of The Stitch comes after the council voted to fund, define, and implement the project in April. Phase one of The Stitch is expected to begin next year, with completion expected by 2030, but the future of the project may be up in the air due to threats to federal funding.
The Trump administration has threated to revoke the $157.6 million U.S. Department of Transportation Neighborhood Access and Equity (NAE) Grant the City received for the project after the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee proposed rescinding non-obligated NAE grant funds as part of the Trump’s effort to decrease government spending.
A.J. Robinson, the President of Central Atlanta Progress, wrote in a letter to supporters that the project will happen with or without the funding, but “federal funding falling out of the equation now will delay the project – likely by years” and jeopardize the 40,000 jobs, $8.6 billion in economic output, and 25,000 new housing units projected to be produced by the Stitch.
Jack Cebe, the development manager of the Stitch, said he’s optimistic that federal funding will still come through.
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