A recent online meeting held by DeKalb County to consider a swap of park land so that Blackhall Studios can expand has been criticized as being one-sided by a leader of a group that opposes the deal.
"Folks from county government painted a picture of a lovely new park along Bouldercrest Road just below McNair High School. Land on both sides of Bouldercrest is owned by Blackhall now, but the county would get the land by trading away forested land and trails neighboring it on the south," according to an account of the online public meeting in the Saporta Report.
"Nothing is that perfect ... there is no balance here, there is no serious public comment," said Jacqueline Echols, a leader of a Stop The Swap campaign and the board president of the South River Watershed Alliance.
Opponents of the county giving 40 wooded acres to Blackhall say the forested area filters stormwater runoff before it gets into the South River. In exchange, Blackhall proposes to give the county 53 acres that critics say is no longer in a natural state.
"Despite being illegal according to the property deed, which states that Intrechment Creek Park is to be protected in perpetuity, the land swap is being pursued and finalized by DeKalb County elected officials," Stop The Swap says.
"The effect of this development on Intrenchment Creek and the South River will include increased stormwater runoff, pollution and increased flooding downstream," the group says.
WABE radio reports that George Dusenbury, state director of The Trust for Public Land, which acquired the county parkland, says the county has not provided the set of requirements the trust requested before it would agree to the swap.
