Summerhill targeted again by sports developers
Tempers flare over proposed $100 million track facility in historic neighborhood
“This is horseshit!” says Summerhill resident Kevin Kusava.
Outrage is rising in the historic Summerhill neighborhood over a massive sweetheart development deal between the Atlanta Track Club and the Atlanta Public School System that could destroy up to one-third of Summerhill’s green space.
The proposed development, adjacent to Cheney Field, was negotiated behind closed doors, leaving the Summerhill community scant time to mount opposition.
A group of Summerhill residents is gearing up to fight it. They are facing an uphill battle. And they’re furious after an August 12 meeting hosted by the Atlanta Track Club that promised “community engagement” but felt more like a highly stylized corporate PR event.
The Atlanta Public School system is considering leasing nearly 17 acres of land to the Atlanta Track Club (the private nonprofit that runs the Peachtree Road Race). The ATC wants to build a $100 million, 175,000 square-foot corporate headquarters and indoor track facility on the APS-owned land, which also includes the Cheney Field outdoor track (the 1996 Olympics outdoor warm up track). The proposed complex would include a 200-meter indoor competition track, a STEM center for students, a health and wellness center, and community space. The vision: To host major high school, college and even NCAA Championship track events there.
Atlanta Track Club CEO Rich Kenah ran a slick presentation Wednesday, Aug. 12, but failed to answer neighbors’ basic questions.
How would local traffic be impacted by major track events?
Kenah said, “I don’t have an answer.”
How much access would neighborhood residents have to the Cheney outdoor track? How many hours per day?
Kenah didn’t have a firm answer.
Kenah handed over the microphone to a hired corporate facilitator to field most of neighbors’ questions. That didn’t go over too well.
The facilitator limited conversation to one question on green space, three questions on traffic, and cut off several residents opposed to the project. The meeting used QR codes and smart phones to get participants’ answers. About 50 people from outside the impacted neighborhoods showed up to rah-rah the project, including 1996 Olympic gold medalist and track star Gail Devers.
The big problem: Neighbors are being asked to support a massive sporting facility without basic questions being answered regarding the project’s impact on on traffic, parking, stormwater runoff, and community access. That’s unfair.
“This is a very flawed community engagement process,” said Donald Shockey, an urban planner who lives on the border of Summerhill and Peoplestown neighborhoods. “You’ve disrespected us by including 50 or so people who don’t live in the impacted area and appear to be Atlanta Track Club members.”
“Nothing concrete in two hours,” said Summerhill’s Kusava. “Are they going to railroad this thing through?”
Summerhill resident Corey Klawunder had the most succinct reaction: “WTF?”
“This meeting is outrageous. Nothing but a controlled narrative,” says Columbus Ward, executive director of the Peoplestown Revitalization Board.
Traffic influx
The Atlanta Track Club has contracted with a civil engineering company to do a 60-day traffic study. The traffic study hasn’t begun yet, Kenah said in an interview Tuesday. The problem? Time is ticking. The Atlanta Public School Board could vote on the ATC facility as early as October. That’s just two months away.
“I’m assuming APS is voting on this in October, and that’s not enough time to do the traffic studies and have us weigh in on it,” says Kusava.
“I don’t see how they are going to handle the traffic on a myriad of one-way, narrow streets,” says Klawunder, who works in the transportation industry and lives on the one-way Connally Street that borders the current green space.
His wife Chloe Klawunder, an urban designer, agrees. The ATC is “not really hearing our concerns that we don’t want this facility in the first place. Traffic is clearly a huge concern and it’s clear they haven’t thought about it, they haven’t done a traffic study yet. It’s like, let’s do this and we will figure it out later. Why did they push it to Atlanta Track Club? I would hope it would start with neighborhood leadership.”
What’s even scarier: Summerhill residents might not get a chance to vote on the ATC track facility. Ever.
John Helton, president of Organized Neighbors of Summerhill, says no neighborhood vote is scheduled at this time because ATC has not asked for a variance, easement or zoning changes. That could change in the future. Helton personally supports the proposed ATC facility, saying, “It would be a good thing for Summerhill long-term.”
Stormwater runoff
Stormwater runoff is a big problem in Summerhill and the adjacent Peoplestown neighborhood, which sits only two blocks away from the proposed track facility. If it rains two days in a row, garbage dumpsters start floating on Connally Street, which is directly across from the proposed facility, says Kusava. Corey Klawunder says the stormwater runoff already brings a “poop-like smell” to Connally Street on rainy days and worries the addition of an indoor track facility would aggravate runoff problems.
Apparently, no current adjustments are planned to accommodate the proposed three-story, 175,000 square-foot facility. Kenah says “When we executed the letter of intent, it was communicated to APS that the Department of Watershed does not have any plans or need to use the Cheney property for formal stormwater mitigations.”
How the deal went down
Kenah says talks began with Atlanta Public School System in March and the ATC and APS signed a non-binding letter of intent in mid-June. The Atlanta Track Club went public with its proposal at a July 6 ONS meeting. Kenah then touted the project and its potential to preserve the 1996 Olympic legacy in a preemptive round of local media interviews, including 11 Alive, Fox-5 Atlanta, and CBS News, all before serious community engagement had begun.
People in Summerhill “felt blindsided,” says Chloe Klawunder.
Kenah says, “I genuinely apologize to the people of Summerhill who felt blindsided. I hope they’ll give me a chance to earn their trust.” Kenah admits to ‘tripping” over parts of the project’s rollout, particularly the project rendering calling for a 300-space parking deck. “Understandably we have created a lot of angst about the size of parking, traffic, etc. We do not need a 300-space parking deck here.”
Kenah calls the rendering a “first draft” and says if he could have a do-over, he would not have presented that rendering as a “fully baked” proposal. But to date, he’s still using that exact same rendering on his website and during his Wednesday pitch to neighbors.
What’s in the proposed deal
The Atlanta Track Club plans to pay for the facility through private donations, tax credits and commercial marketing partnerships, without asking for city funds.
Summerhill resident Tim Reistetter, who started OurCheney.org website to oppose the ATC proposal, ran an Open Records request to get a look at the APS/ATC non-binding letter of intent. Also, CL independently obtained the letter of intent.
It shows: The Atlanta Track Club would get three years of free rent during the facility’s construction phase. Some Summerhill residents feel the free rent phase means their hefty property taxes would be subsidizing construction of track facility. Kusava says his property taxes have tripled since he moved to Connally Street in 2010.
After three years, APS would charge $50,000 annually for two years, with similar incremental increases topping out at $150,000 per year. But that’s only if Atlanta Track Club shows a yearly profit. If the ATC shows a loss, the facility’s rent can be significantly slashed.
“That’s chump change for a $100 million-dollar facility,” Reistetter says. “Summerhill has taken it on the chin by developer after developer. There’s a direct line between government action and bad things happening in Summerhill.”
He’s right. The Summerhill neighborhood has been kicked in the teeth by government-inspired sports facilities for decades, starting in the 1960s with the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. In the 1990s, thousands of Summerhill residents were displaced by the 1996 Centennial Olympic Stadium. The Atlanta Braves transformed that stadium into Turner Field, and Summerhill withstood years of game traffic and broken promises of community investment. The neighborhood didn’t even get its first grocery store until 2023, after the Braves took off for Cobb County.
Where do officials stand?
APS School Board Member (District 1) Katie Howard remains “uncommitted.” She says she has no problem with how the letter of intent was negotiated. The Atlanta School Board District said in a statement: “Discussions remain preliminary, and no final decisions have been made.”
Atlanta City Councilman (District 1) Jason Winston says he’s “uncommitted” and “the process is playing out in real time. Community engagement is hard.”
The Office of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens did not respond to CL’s request for comment.
What’s next?
The big problem is that Summerhill is being asked once again to support a massive sporting facility without any real data to make a sound decision. And with a community engagement process that is off to a very troubling start.
Perhaps the biggest travesty from Wednesday’s meeting is this: There is no timeline or schedule for future “community engagement” meetings on the APS/ATC $100 million facility. Zero concrete plans or timelines for future discussions. The Atlanta Public Schools Board could vote as early as October. Though Kenah did promise to keep the neighborhood informed about upcoming meetings, the lack of a firm timeline makes Summerhill residents nervous.
“Something is going on here that’s a little fishy and doesn’t benefit the children of the Atlanta School System. They really have not thought this through,” says Corey Klawunder. “The timeline is super-suspicious.”