Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued an executive order this morning to temporarily halt any redevelopment of the 25-acre Atlanta Medical Center site, which Wellstar Health System plans to close by Nov. 1.
Dickens said in a statement that he intends to work with the Atlanta City Council to pass legislation extending the temporary moratorium.
“The Atlanta Medical Center campus is a vital cornerstone of the Old Fourth Ward community,” the mayor said in the statement. “The City of Atlanta has an essential interest in ensuring that any reuse or redevelopment of this property is in line with the community’s needs and master plan. This moratorium will provide the City necessary time to review the impact of the hospital’s closure on the community and consider possible rezoning.”
The executive order directs the Department of City Planning to refuse any applications for rezoning, building permits, land disturbances, special administrative permits, subdivisions, replatting or lot consolidations for 15 parcels of land that are part of the current Atlanta Medical Center footprint.
The order notes that the hospital has previously been identified in the Old Fourth Ward Master Plan as a piece of essential infrastructure for the community and that some of the properties fall within both the BeltLine Overlay District and the BeltLine Affordable Workforce Housing District.
Read the full executive order here and view the map detailing the impacted parcels here.
Read our previous coverage of the closure of Atlanta Medical Center:
• Grady Hospital gets $130M in federal funds ahead of Atlanta Medical Center closure
• Concern deepens over ‘shocking’ Atlanta Medical Center closure announcement
• Wellstar announces Nov. 1 closure of Atlanta Medical Center in Old Fourth Ward