Atlanta Housing is working with the community to write a plan for the former Bowen Homes Neighborhood, the adjacent Carey Park Neighborhood, and a portion of the Donald Lee Hollowell business corridor and is seeking public input focused on housing, people, and how to create a stronger community.
Two public input virtual workshops are planned for January 20th and January 22nd through Zoom with tentative in-person attendance at Springfield Missionary Baptist Church at 1730 Hollywood Road in Atlanta. The January 20th public open house will start at 6 pm and focus on obtaining ideas for the Bowen Homes and surrounding neighborhoods. To attend this meeting through Zoom, registration is required through this link. The January 22nd open house will be held at 1 pm and will display the collective final results from prior open houses. Again, registration is required through this link to attend this meeting through Zoom.
According to the Atlanta Housing, the plan will address affordable housing, transportation, jobs, small business resources, programs for youth, parks in the neighborhoods, and have created a robust public participation and vision process to ensure that the plan captures what matters most to community members. The community participation and vision for housing, people, and the neighborhood will support creating a plan that identifies resident and stakeholder priorities, builds on shared strengths, and addresses community needs.
According to Atlanta Housing, Bowen Homes was built in 1964 as a model suburban community. Approximately 4,000 residents lived here, supporting family businesses that developed along Bankhead Highway (now Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway). Bowen Homes was built with 650 units with a mix of 1, 2, 3, and 4-bedroom units, located in 102 buildings. In addition, there were several non-residential buildings, including a community building and day-care center. While the design and construction of Bowen Homes represented contemporary building practice for its time, its small units, garden-style layout, and limited connectivity contributed to its physical isolation. Additionally, plagued by crime and deterioration along with being stigmatized as “the projects,” Bowen Homes was demolished in 2009, as approved by HUD in 2008.
The creation of the Bowen Homes Plan and public input meeting work has been made possible with the support of a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
One Response
Hello – I wanted to note a discrepancy in the subtitle. The upcoming 3-day workshop was planned and will be hosted by TSW, an Atlanta-based planning, architecture and landscape architecture firm, and a large team of design, planning and engineering consultants working with Atlanta Housing on this project. The Georgia Conservancy led a “Good Urbanism” series on Saturday, January 15, as a kick-off event to this week’s workshop. Please contact me if you have other questions.