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Proposed special services district aimed at funding Atlanta’s The Stitch capping project
Summary
A representative of Central Atlanta Progress said federal funding for The Stitch is secured and organizers have filed papers to form a special services district that would tax commercial properties within the project footprint to raise local funds for construction phases.
A representative of Central Atlanta Progress said federal funding for The Stitch — a proposal to cap part of the Downtown Connector between Downtown and Midtown Atlanta — is secured, and organizers have filed papers to establish a special services district to raise local matching funds.
"The Stitch, as most people know, is an ambitious project to cap part of the connector downtown, kind of linking downtown and midtown," the representative said. "And there's been enormous federal support, already identified and locked in. And the next logical step is to find some local support as well."
The representative described the filing as the first step to create a special services district (SSD). "And so these papers establish a special services district. So it's usually a self taxing district, that will tax local commercial properties and within the footprint of the stitch to help, create some local funding streams to get this project going because there's a big infrastructure lift to to cap the connector," the speaker said.
An SSD is being compared to the BeltLine SSD passed several years ago, which was intended to generate local revenue for the Atlanta BeltLine trail. The Central Atlanta Progress representative said the new SSD would function similarly: once it is approved and begins collecting revenue, that local funding would support the various phases of The Stitch as the project moves from planning toward construction.
"But right now we're in the planning phase, pretty soon we'll be moving into the first infrastructure phase," the speaker said, and added that Central Atlanta Progress will continue coordinating the project "with the city and GDOT in the in the coming months."
The discussion in the transcript was informational; no motion, vote, or formal action was recorded in the provided excerpt. The transcript did not specify a timeline for SSD approval, the exact tax rate or assessment method, or the dollar value of federal funds already identified.
Next steps described in the discussion include completing planning work and seeking local funding through the SSD to support initial infrastructure work; officials cited coordination among Central Atlanta Progress, the City of Atlanta, and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
