Long inaccessible 26-acre forest could become southwest Atlanta's newest park

For years, Renette Scott warned her students at Therrell High School in southwest Atlanta not to venture into the woods outside the school. She didn't know then that the land was owned by the city of Atlanta.

"This is a jewel that we don't know exists," Scott said.

The land is known as Falling Water Park. The city bought the 26-acre forest in 2004 and classified it as a park-in-holding, meaning the greenspace was protected and closed to the public.

Scott partnered with community members, the nonprofit Park Pride, and city officials to advocate for its development. The community members started working under the name Friends of Falling Water Park.

"We had meetings, we did surveys, we had all kinds of activities," said Deborah Hall, a community organizer on the project who lives right outside the park.

After years of organizing, the city of Atlanta was awarded a $2 million state grant to help make the park accessible. The plans include trails, a boardwalk for fishing and birdwatching, educational signs about wildlife, and outdoor recreational areas. The city credits the community's advocacy with helping secure the grant.

"This whole area is a desert. We're in a desert economically, a desert with our green space, a desert with our housing. But I think the key to it is how we not only develop it but how we make it sustainable," Scott said.  

Dexter Clemons, another member of Friends of Falling Water Park, said the wooded property and Mount Gilead Lake could become a destination for birdwatching, fishing, and outdoor recreation.

"There are many species that we can put there," Clemons said. "But to have a fishing area cove over the water where people can come and just relax, of course probably shaded overhead, the trails coming through, there's just so much."  

Hall said the development will improve the surrounding neighborhood.

"If it's more formalized, then some of the overgrowth that we see that's not natural to the area will be removed so that we'll have a beautification with what is naturally a part of Georgia," she said.

After years of advocacy, the community says it's looking forward to the day this long-inaccessible greenspace opens to the public. The city says it will match the state's grant with $1 million, bringing the total to $3 million.

The city is waiting to finalize its agreement with the state this summer. Construction will start once the permits are issued.