Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 30th – Historic Fourth Ward Park Tour/Beltline Update

All GPA planners are invited to our next GPA/YPG event on Wednesday, March 30th at the Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta. The Historic Fourth Ward Park is a 35-acre greenspace located at 680 Dallas Street, roughly between North Avenue and Freedom Parkway, near City Hall East and the Masquerade. It is the first new park built as a part of the Atlanta BeltLine. This event is a little more interactive than our previous events since we’ll be on site at the park and able to see the results of recent planning efforts in Atlanta.

The Agenda:

• 6:00 – Meet on the north end of the park above the fountain.
• 6:15 – Kevin Burke begins our guided tour of the park. Upon completion, Ryan Gravel will give us an update on the BeltLine.
• After the speakers have concluded, we’ll head over to Bookhouse Pub (about 2 blocks away on Ponce) to grab a drink with our fellow planners.

We are pursuing AICP CM credits for this event and have two very knowledgeable speakers lined up:

• Kevin Burke, senior landscape architect at Atlanta Beltline Inc., will be taking us on a tour of the park and explaining its unique features. Kevin has more than 29 years of professional experience on a range of institutional, roadway, college and university, and park projects. Prior to joining ABI, Kevin worked for a number of years on the “Big Dig” in Boston.
• Ryan Gravel, whose joint master’s thesis in Architecture and City Planning from Georgia Tech in 1999 was the original vision for the Atlanta BeltLine, will be giving us an update on BeltLine planning as well as implementation. Eight years of his subsequent work as a volunteer and later in the nonprofit and government sectors was critical to the BeltLine’s success, which is now a $2+ billion public-private initiative in the early stages of implementation. Now practicing Urban Design at Perkins+Will, Ryan is Design Manager for the firm’s BeltLine Corridor Design contract, which will determine the character and design details for the trail, transit guideway, stations, access points, public spaces, public art, streetscapes, lighting, plants and materials.

If you’d like more information about the park, please visit http://www.h4wpc.org/.

See you on the 30th!