Buckhead Greenspace Action Plan

Carlos F. Perez served as the Project Manager / Parks Planner, and Landscape Architect and David Barth served as the Principal-In-Charge for the Buckhead Greenspace Action Plan, while working for AECOM. The project was informed by a 25 member Steering Committee that included representatives and stakeholders from a variety of community interest groups including the City of Atlanta Parks and Recreation Department, Department of Watershed Management, Atlanta Development Authority, Atlanta Public Schools, private schools, churches, private development community, historical and cultural groups, the arts community, and various neighborhood associations. The project process included a needs assessment and public input process based on existing conditions analysis, stakeholder interviews, steering committee workshops, and an On-Line Survey Instrument developed and administered by Carlos.

The project team completed a Visioning Phase of the project which identified over 100 acres of potential new parkland. The Vision is comprised of a series of subsystems that not only serve to meet the recreational needs and desires of the community but also leverage historical and cultural assets, Buckhead’s extensive concentration of art galleries and public art, as well as water resource management and transportation improvement opportunities to create an integrated and interconnected parks and open spaces system named “The Buckhead Collection.” The Buckhead Collection looks to leverage publicly owned lands that have traditionally been inaccessible to the general public and proposes to transform them into economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable parkland.

The project ended with an Implementation Phase where the project team worked with Buckhead Community Improvement District and Livable Buckhead Inc., a 501c3 organization that has been created to implement the “Buckhead Collection,” and developed an action-based implementation and funding strategy that outlines partnerships, roles and responsibilities, funding sources, and projected funding amounts.

I have worked with Carlos Perez and Dave Barth teamed together in both green space planning and multi-use trail implementation capacities. They have a knack for thoroughly engaging a steering committee and the public ensuring the development of a vision that has tremendous buy in and support. I highly recommend Carlos and Dave and can assure you that you will not be disappointed when you bring them on board.

- Denise Starling, Executive Director