A Nature Preserve by the Airport
Last week, after a couple years of meetings and study, MARTA’s Board voted to authorize the sale of 7.25 acres of property on Willingham Drive to the City of College Park for a future nature preserve. Even better, Jeffrey Parker, CEO of MARTA, endorsed the vision of Finding the Flint in a tweet:
“MARTA believes that the mission of Finding the Flint and the mission of MARTA are absolutely complementary—from reducing flooded streets, which can sometimes impact the reliability of our bus service to helping people have additional routes for walking and cycling in the area.”
The river looks like a tiny stream here, right on the boundary of College Park and East Point, but this is where the headwaters of the Flint first see daylight. It’s a 7-acre patch of floodplain that has long served to capture stormwater. From 1900, the springs filled a reservoir here for Gate City Cotton Mills. MARTA purchased the property in 1985 to manage stormwater runoff from the East Point station and the rail line. Today, it’s a grassy meadow where several streams come together.
1911 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of East Point shows Gate City Cotton Mills’ reservoir off Willingham Drive. Photo of the mill circa 1950 from Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center.
Best of all, this nature preserve is an idea that came directly from our community stakeholders. At our first meeting of the Finding the Flint Working Group in 2017, members mentioned this fenced-off property as an opportunity to reclaim the river as a community asset. Woodward Academy told us they have long imagined the land would be perfect for cross-country trails. Neighbors in Egan Park talked about the need for a green buffer between their homes and industrial activities along the railroad. It could become a creekside park, while still managing stormwater.
Our team got permission from MARTA to tour the property in June 2020 and we saw that it’s already a lovely greenspace. Finding the Flint commissioned a detailed survey to determine the location of every tree and pipe and stream on the property. Pictured below are members of the survey team, engineers from Pond & Co, reps from MARTA, City of College Park Council members, folks from Parks and Recreation, Economic Development, and a couple community members who have been active in the development of this park. It helps that we visited on a beautiful early summer day, when wildflowers filled the meadow and the pear, elm, hickory, river birch and pecan trees were shady and lush.
The City of College Park’s Business and Industrial Authority (BIDA) is moving to acquire this property from MARTA. With stream restoration, this could be a central public greenspace in a city that lacks access to nature. Residents and neighboring institutions like Woodward Academy are enthusiastic about the possibility of trails, gardens, and outdoor classrooms at the source of the Flint River.
We still have a long way to go before we cut the ribbon on a public nature preserve, but this announcement is a breakthrough worth celebrating. There are not many protected greenspaces so close to the airport, and there’s no public access to the Flint River.
This summer, we’ll be working with the City of College Park to lead community engagement to design the park, and apply for grants for creek restoration and trail construction.