PROPERTY OVERVIEW
| Property address | 760 Bolton Road, NW Atlanta, GA 30331 3050 Collier Dr., NW, Atlanta 30318 |
| Size | Bolton Rd. (vacant building): 8.9 acres/68,766 sq ft — Built 1963, renovated 2000 Collier Dr. (vacant property): 6.33 acres — Demolished 2010 |
| Current zoning | 760 Bolton – Zoning: R-4 (Single-Family Residential) Future Land Use: Community Facility Surrounded by SFR City Council District: 10 NPU: H Neighborhood: Carroll Heights3050 Collier Dr – Zoning: R-3 (Single-Family Residential) Future Land Use: Single-Family Residential City Council District: 10 NPU: I Neighborhood: Collier Heights |
| Current land use | Single-family Residential (including some historic neighborhoods) |
| Appraised value | 760 Bolton – Land: $79,100, Building: $1,103,300, Total: $1,182,400 3050 Collier – Land/Total: $ 86,200 |
Source: Fulton County Board of Assessors, 2019
PROPERTY USE RECOMMENDATION
Based on our analysis, local APS elementary-aged students in this geography would benefit from a Community Learning Center with STEM and literacy programming specific to elementary school students and their immediate caregivers. Given the cluster’s emphasis on implementing Fountas and Pinnell and Lucy Coggins curriculum in every K-5 classroom, this Community Learning Center would greatly contribute to the development of a STEM and literacy eco-sytem in the community.
Property Selection Rationale
As outlined in the Analysis section, our site selection process prioritized vacant properties located in high-need communities. The former Towns Elementary property rose to the top as a potential development site because the cluster schools are projected to remain below full capacity and the existing building is in good condition, according to the Facility Condition Assessment report.
Community Need: The neighborhood containing this property has a high need across housing, economics and transportation. Almost 48% of residents are rent cost-burdened, meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on housing. The median household income in the community is 42% lower than the City of Atlanta average, and 28% of residents are unemployed. Lastly, the walkability score of 8 on a scale of 20, with 20 indicating the best walkability.
Utilization/Population: The overall cluster utilization rates are all below the 80% APS high-capacity threshold. The expected population growth is low.
Current assets: The property is located one mile away from Harper-Archer Elementary School and 1.8 miles away from Usher Elementary School, with I-285 being a barrier between the site and Usher Elementary. However, Collier Heights Road goes under I-285 approximately .4 miles from Usher, providing fairly simple/not completely impeded access.
General community points of pride related to school cluster:
- Historic neighborhood with deep cultural pride
- Single-gender academies and international programs
Physical assets identified during site visits include:
- Imhotep Academy-private school
- Several community churches
- Public, county senior center that is heavily used
- A lack of childcare facilities are nearby; (“Fun to Learn” is closest = .7 miles)
How the Property Fits into Existing Plans
- This area is considered a food desert according to Atlanta Office of Resiliency
- Future land use is slated to continue to be single-family residential, as this is a historic residential neighborhood
- The nearest town-center slated for growth is located along Donald Lee Hollowell, approximately 3 miles northeast
Primary Recommendation
The community demonstrates a specific need for a Community Learning Center to be placed in the former Towns Elementary School facility. The building has a strong facility condition index score, indicating a low investment cost to make this space readily usable. Evidence highlights that in this geographic area students’ caregivers are elderly and/or non-native English speakers. Additionally, the economic analysis indicated that employment in the area consists mostly of distribution and service-sector jobs. Such jobs often require workers to accept overtime or take on a second job in order to earn a living wage. This creates a unique set of needs and challenges as the cluster seeks to implement new instructional methods.
In particular, the at-home language and generational challenges will inevitably make it difficult for caregivers to provide the home support required to enable successful implementation of the Fountas and Pinnell and Lucy Coggins curriculum referenced in the cluster plan. Implementing these new instructional methods requires dedicated at-home hours to practice new math methods and reading time.
As such, The Learning Center would provide a school-to-home bridge. This Community Learning Center would focus on caregiver-child learning programs that enable the caregiver to support new instructional methods in the home environment. The center would expand instructional time and provide add-on services that attract caregivers to the site. This center would create a stronger connection between home and school, building on the STEM Ecosystem concept currently popularized across the country.
Moreover, current jobs for these caregivers, (distribution centers and service-industry), do not enable strong economic mobility and require long working days/overtime to make ends meet. As such, this center should include a basic workforce development area that offers transferable skills. Skills transferability is vital to economic mobility and would enable access to potentially higher-paying jobs for the caregivers. Providing a center where caregivers can learn how to apply their skills to new, higher-paying jobs would incentivize them to engage with the center, where they would then have access to literacy-bridge activities in support of the Fountas and Pinnell and Lucy Coggins curriculum methods.
Justification
- EXISTING FACILITY, FUTURE POPULATION GROWTH LIKELY
- APS has a ready-to-use facility in a geographic area of low-utilization.
- The center could serve different age groups– elementary students, career-prep services for parents and even serve as a spill-over location for activity programming for the local senior center, which is heavily utilized during school-time hours.
- The population in census tracts just outside of the cluster in Cobb County is increasing at a high rate.
- The population has become more polarized between elderly and young people, as there is not a significant proportion of middle-aged persons.
- BILINGUAL & NON-TRADITIONAL CAREGIVERS
- A high percentage of students in the community are living in a bilingual household and parents who are non-English speakers require unique engagement opportunities.
- There has been little change in overall population across the previous five years, but enrollment in ESOL programs has increased significantly in some tracts and we recognize that Hispanic/Latinx traditionally undercounted in census surveys.
- When studio members visited other schools in the cluster, near the target properties, Usher Elementary School had bilingual signs posted for drop-off zones.
- A large percentage of caregivers are grandparents, suggesting potential technology and generational learning gaps.
- STABILIZING CAREER PATHS WILL STABILIZE STUDENT POPULATION & DECREASE STUDENT CHURN
- North-west of the property, there are high-employment opportunities in local distribution centers; as such, families may be moving in between APS, Cobb and Fulton county schools, depending on the availability of affordable housing.
- Job growth has been in service and low-wage sectors such as admin/waste management, retail, transportation/warehousing.
- Share of workers 29 and younger has more than doubled between 2010 and 2017, suggesting that young people are staying in the area and working locally.
Phasing and Alternatives
STEM Ecosystem Testing Ground:
While all of these programmatic components would be useful for the cluster, APS could choose to test the STEM Ecosystem method here and build capacity that could be applied district-wide.
Technical/Apprenticeship Academy:
More industry-specific partnerships that support workforce development in the local vicinity. Curriculum exists (See: GA DOE: Middle School Performance Standards “Georgia Career, Technical and Agricultural Education” GCTAE). The Henry County College and Career Readiness Facility has successfully implemented this type of industry-specific workforce development. (This center is an existing partnership with Georgia Power.)
Potential Partnerships
APS should leverage existing resources to develop and operate the center’s programs and services. Below are existing and potential partners that could run or facilitate each aspect of the recommendations.
Math & Science: Code.org, a nonprofit that provides free computer science curriculum for teachers; Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing, (CEISMC) (Existing APS partnership); STEM Learning Ecosystems: https://stemecosystems.org/faqs/
Literacy: Rollins Center at the Atlanta Speech School (existing Douglass cluster partnership);
Career entry /skills transferability programs: Metro Atlanta EXchange for Workforce Solutions;
Truancy & Other Wraparound Services: The At-Promise Youth & Community Centers (Atlanta Police Foundation)