Slowly, the city of Atlanta is piecing together lots in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood to create a new public park to complement the planned BeltLine. 

In one of the city’s latest real estate transactions, the Trust for Public Land acquired a 3-acre parcel along Freedom Parkway from Cox Enterprises Inc. The Trust for Public Land then deeded the parcel over to the city.

Dow Lohnes partner David Lester advised Cox Enterprises on the $3.85 million land sale. The Trust for Public Land was represented by staff attorneys Richard Tucker and Sireesha C. Ghanta.

The parcel is bounded by Willoughby Way on the south, Freedom Parkway to the east and south and the BeltLine corridor to the east. But the most distinctive aspect of the parcel is its location next to a WSB television antenna and the concrete structure that spans Freedom Parkway, protecting motorists from ice that might fall from the antenna’s guy wires. The parcel that Cox sold is an empty lot, Lester said. The antenna and accompanying brick WSB-TV building sit on the adjacent lot; Cox isn’t selling that property, he said.

From the city's perspective, the biggest lure of the Cox parcel is its location directly on the BeltLine. The BeltLine is the city’s ambitious plan for a streetcar line, walking paths and greenspace that will encircle the city's core. Along with its designs for the BeltLine, the city also is planning the addition of several new park s

The city will plant trees and grass on its new parcel, said Paul Taylor, director of Atlanta’s office of park design. Also planned are a new facility for skateboarders and a multiuse athletic field.

The Cox lot will be part of a larger aggregation of greenspace, featuring a large stormwater-retention pond, that the city plans to call Historic Fourth Ward Park. The largest element of the planned 16-acre park is property that's bounded by the former Sears Building [photo, right] on North Avenue (now City Hall East and scheduled for conversion to residential and retail space) and Ralph McGill Boulevard. The Cox parcel will be detached from the largest segment, connected by a tree-lined sidewalk or walkway along Ensley Street and crossing Ralph McGill Boulevard.

From Dowdell’s Knob on top of Pine Mountain in central Georgia, the visage of Franklin D. Roosevelt gazes upon the southernmost element of the Appalachian Mountain range. FDR often visited the area to treat his polio in the waters of nearby Warm Springs.

After FDR’s death, the state of Georgia created its largest state park in and around the Pine Mountain and Warm Springs area. Surrounding F.D. Roosevelt State Park, which features the life-sized bronze sculpture of the 32nd president, are the holdings of the Ida Cason Callaway family. Some of the Callaway family property comprises Callaway Gardens, a golf resort and nature preserve. Much of the rest of the land is virtual wilderness.

In a multi-party, $4 million transaction last month, the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation last month transferred about 2,507 acres of its property to the Georgia Forestry Commission to be held in a conservation easement. Of the 13,000 acres owned by the foundation, about 4,000 acres are now held in a conservation easement, said foundation spokeswoman Rachel Crumbley. None of the recently donated property would affect daily visitors to Callaway Gardens, she said, and the Callaway foundation will remain the owner of the tract.

The Georgia Land Conservation Program provided a $2 million grant and a $2 million low-interest loan to Harris County, Ga. to acquire an easement on the property from the Callaway Foundation. The county then transferred the easement to the Georgia Forestry Commission.

Lawson & Moseley partner Bill Lawson and attorney Susan Kalus in Atlanta advised the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation on the transaction. Lewis Taylor & Todd partner John M. Taylor in LaGrange advised the government of Harris County, Ga., where the property is located. The Georgia State Properties Commission was represented by in-house counsel Alisa C. Pereira. Shannon A. McGhee of the Office of the Attorney General advised the Georgia Land Conservation Program, a state-funded effort to protect property from private development.

A conservation easement imposes strict limits on what type of development can take place on the property, said Curt Soper, director of the Georgia Land Conservation Program. The easement limits the number and types of homes that can be built, as well as restricts digging and grading land. In return, a private landowner can obtain tax benefits—in Georgia, up to $250,000 per individual, or up to $500,000 for a corporation—if a property owner donates an easement.

From the public’s point of view, any additional land that’s set aside from private development is a good thing, said Mark Woodall, a Talbot County tree farmer who lobbies at the state Capitol on behalf of the Sierra Club.

“This makes for a fine protected area for folks in west Georgia,” Woodall said.

The conservation easement should also help efforts by public and private groups, including the Callaway foundation, to restore the population of rare and endangered montane longleaf pine trees to the Pine Mountain ridge and valley area, Woodall said.

An additional benefit accrues to the public when property that’s located adjacent to a state park is placed in a conservation easement, Soper said. For example, the 23-mile Pine Mountain Trail could be extended from within F.D. Roosevelt State Park into the Callaway tract.

The Callaway property is one of about 500 tracts in the state held in conservation easements, Soper said. The vast majority of those easements are held by private trusts with the remainder, including the new Callaway property, being held by the state government.