MARTA says Atlanta intentionally delaying Five Points renovation permits

Board member Freda Hardage accused the city of holding up the project because of continued bad blood over past spending on transit expansion in Atlanta. MARTA has disputed the findings of a city audit that found it had misused up to $70 million and is waiting on the results of its own audit.

“That’s the elephant in the room that we’re all walking around now,” said Hardage, who represents Fulton County. “That’s holding up a lot of progress with the city.”

Credit: Special

Credit: Special

The audit is one of the roadblocks Greenwood shared. He said city officials brought up MARTA’s audit in conversations about the Five Points permits, telling the agency the audit is “being tied to the permits.” Subsequently, MARTA has been told permits are not contingent on the audit, which is expected next month, he said.

Officials in Mayor Andre Dickens’ office did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Previously, city staff have said the delays are because of problems with MARTA’s applications.

“The City of Atlanta has never intentionally withheld any permits, and we are actively collaborating with MARTA to resolve mistakes in their submissions,” city spokesperson Allison Fouche said in a Feb. 24 email. “We are eager to see the Five Points station project move forward and completed.”

Construction at Five Points was originally slated to begin last July, but MARTA’s plans to close pedestrian access to the station drew criticism from riders and city officials and led to a request from Dickens to pause construction. In November, MARTA agreed to keep pedestrian access open during construction, and the project was supposedly given a green light.

But within a day of filing for the demolition permit, the city denied the application, according to the city’s permitting website. The demolition permit is one of many required for the project, and other permits can’t be submitted until it is approved.

The city told MARTA it needed a special type of permit that would require additional public engagement. Jonathan Hunt, MARTA’s interim chief legal counsel, said he can’t recall a time the city has made such a request in 12 years of working at the transit agency.

In a letter to the city seeking a waiver for the special permit, attorneys for MARTA argued the agency is exempt from such requirements under state law.

The city ultimately approved the waiver, MARTA officials said. MARTA then resubmitted its initial demolition permit request.

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

While that was being processed, MARTA officials say the city erroneously invoiced them for filing fees of about $270,000.

Greenwood told the board that the agency is exempt from those fees, but he authorized paying them in an attempt to speed up approval.

“I feared if we stopped the process to fight the fight we’d be asked to resubmit,” Greenwood said. “I didn’t want to take any of those chances.”

MARTA hand-delivered a check to the city last Friday but it was rejected. Greenwood said the city acknowledged then that MARTA is exempt.

Multiple MARTA board members expressed frustration during the Thursday meeting.

“We’re not in a great place here,” said Jacob Tzegaegbe, who represents Atlanta.

There’s still potential for MARTA to face a $10,000 per-day fine from its contractor for the delays, officials told the board. Any fines would be determined after construction begins, which will be six to eight weeks after permits are approved. MARTA has not been charged any fines yet.

Chief Capital Officer Carrie Rocha told the board that fines would be paid with money from the More MARTA Atlanta expansion program, which is the subject of the audits. Atlanta voters approved a half-penny sales tax in 2016 to fund transit projects.

The Five Points project is one of several MARTA prioritized for funding from the tax.

City officials have criticized how MARTA spent the tax money in the first few years of the project. That led to a city-led audit by Mauldin & Jenkins, completed last year, that concluded MARTA overcharged operational expenses to the program.

MARTA officials have disputed the findings and commissioned a separate audit from KPMG.