For the first time since the 1996 Olympics, land around northwest Atlanta’s water reservoirs will be open to the public.
Residents will be able to visit a 2-acre plot at the corner of Howell Mill Road and 17th Street after fences are moved back at the city’s “waterworks” reservoirs at the Hemphill Water Treatment Plant, the Upper Westside Improvement District announced.
Home to a cluster of trees, the hill is one of the highest points in the city and has a view of the Midtown and downtown skylines.
The improvement district, as well as local nonprofit Friends of Waterworks, said they have been negotiating with the city for five years to open up the park. Atlanta Department of Watershed Management Commissioner Mikita Browning gave the go-ahead after the city determined it could maintain water operations. Councilman Dustin Hillis, who represents the area, also supported the idea.
“Upper Westside Improvement District has never given up on the effort to open the reservoir grounds,” said Elizabeth Hollister, the executive director of the improvement district. “The residents and the businesses tell us they want more parks in the Howell Mill-Marietta area, and we have a huge, magnificent space which was once open to everyone and will be again.”
Work is expected to begin before the end of the year.
RELATED: Nearby greenspace opened in 2018
The land around the reservoirs was once opened to the public. In 1996, in preparation for the Olympics, the city installed the chain-link fences that surround the water now.
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