WHEREAS, Rodney Cook, Sr. Park, hereafter referred to as The Peace Park, will honor the contributions of many generations of Georgia Peacemakers to the City of Atlanta, state of Georgia, and to the Civil Rights movement. The Peace Park will be located in a neighborhood where many civil rights leaders resided, including Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Peace Park will be domiciled in closed proximity to the Atlanta University Center, the largest complex of African American students and scholars in the world. Atlanta gave birth to the modern civil rights movement and was the national headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Atlanta’s Leadership, guided by the spirit of The Atlanta Way, has always practiced biracial, nonviolent social change for the greater good of Atlanta and the state of Georgia.
WHEREAS, Rodney Mims Cook Jr. (hereinafter "Cook, Jr.") is a highly-respected international authority on classical architecture and urban planning. Cook, Jr. has been encouraged by his father, Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., to build Rodney Cook Sr. Park at a location close to the site of the original park; and is the Founder and President of the National Monuments Foundation (hereinafter "NMF"), a public non-profit organization whose purpose is to create beautiful self-sustaining destination landmarks of national and historical relevance, as well as Peace centers for cultural, civic and social activism for communities around the world that will be destination landmarks of national, historical and aesthetic significance, and that will uplift the communities in which they are built through a classical approach; and
WHEREAS, The Peace Park will be dedicated to Atlanta's contribution to peace and civil rights. It will include passive green space, water features, public art, educational components, an urban garden, the Peace Museum Complex, and numerous other amenities related to use for park, recreational and cultural purposes; and
WHEREAS, consistent with its mission, NMF will seek to strengthen the Westside TAD community in which the Park is located. The Peace Park will generate numerous jobs, including construction, park maintenance, facility maintenance, restaurant and museum operations, urban farming, and concessions sales. NMF's objective is to fill approximately 50% of these entry level positions and approximately 20% of the positions overall with residents of the Westside TAD community; and
WHEREAS, the NMF has a history of successfully performing grand projects in Atlanta. Among many projects around the world, NMF coordinated the design and construction of the World Athletes Monument (commonly known as the Prince of Wales Monument) at Pershing Point on Peachtree Street, which commemorates the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. NMF choreographed the design and construction of the Millennium Gate Museum at Atlantic Station which includes the most comprehensive museum of Georgia history in the state, and which is the largest classical monument erected in the United States since the Jefferson Memorial; and
WHEREAS, consistent with NMF's mission, the Park will be self-sustaining. All of NMF's net income from the Park will be used solely for the improvement, maintenance, repair, operation and management of the Park buildings and monuments, for which NMF will have full responsibility at no cost to the City; and
WHEREAS, NMF has offered to donate the John Lewis Statue to the City of Atlanta, to be placed and maintained as a public monument, at no cost to the City, in Rodney Cook Sr. Park; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire of the City of Atlanta, in acknowledgement of its appreciation and respect for those civil rights heroes and she-roes whose dedication to the advancement of civil and human rights and to public service in general have furthered the City’s social, cultural and humanitarian goals and objectives, to accept the donation of the John Lewis Statue from NMF; and
WHEREAS, the donation to the City of Atlanta has been valued at an amount not to exceed Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($350,000.00), (the “Donated Art Installation”); and
WHEREAS, the acceptance of the Donated Art Installation does not require the expenditure of any City funds, and thus, is not subject to the requirements of Chapter 46, Article II of the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances related to the implementation of the City’s public art program; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 1-102(c)(7) of the City of Atlanta Charter, the City of Atlanta is authorized to accept donations from any source for any purpose related to the powers and duties of the city, including for art installations; and
WHEREAS, it is also the desire of the City of Atlanta to enter into a maintenance agreement with NMF, with an estimated value of Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00), for a period of up to 20 years (“Maintenance Agreement”), to help ensure the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the John Lewis Statue; and
WHEREAS, the elements and scale of the proposed The Peace Park will provide direct investment in the City, will create numerous jobs, will enhance the economic and aesthetic conditions in the surrounding community, and will establish a remarkable, educational and artistic City landmark that will be enjoyed by generations of Atlanta residents and visitors; and
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA HEREBY ORDAINS as follows:
Section 1: The Mayor, on behalf of the City, is authorized to negotiate and to enter into a ground lease agreement with the National Monuments Foundation for the lease of certain property within Cook Park (“Leased Premises”) for the development of The Peace Museum Complex.
Section 2: That separate legislation authorizing the ground lease agreement shall be introduced upon final negotiations between the Mayor and NMF.
Section 3: NMF shall develop the Leased Premises, to create the Peace Museum Complex within Cook Park, all at no cost to the City:
a) The Peace Park plan shall include stand-alone monuments and sculptures of Georgia peacemakers from the 1733 founding of the Colony of Georgia to the present (hereinafter the “Sculptures”). These sculptures may include Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, Dorothy Bolden, Senator Julian Bond, Joseph E. Boone, Rodney Cook Sr., W.E.B. DuBois, Mayor Maynard H. Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington, Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, Alonzo Herndon, Grace Towns Hamilton, Herman J. Russell, Hosea L. Williams, James Orange, and Joseph E. Lowery.
b) A 115-foot Peace Column shall be located in the Park. A museum will be located in the base of the Peace Column containing the M.L. King and C.T. Vivian Family Libraries and exhibits highlighting local peacemakers, the Civil Rights Movement, and Georgia’s 300-year tradition of peace.
c) The Georgia Nobel Peace Pantheon commemorating Georgia’s Nobel Peace Laureates shall be located in the Park. It will have a 2-story pedestal housing the Shin Dae-yong Global Peace Institute and provide office space for peace-focused institutions from around the world.
d) A later phase of the project shall include constructing the Ambassador Andrew Young Peace Center and Arnett Art Museum on the south edge of the park.
e) NMF may not construct any other buildings on the Premises other than those listed above in this Section 3 (the Buildings, which shall include the Peace Pantheon and the Peace Column). The collective ground area of all of the Buildings shall not exceed five (5) acres. All Buildings will be LEED certified or certified by an equivalent recognized designation system acceptable to the City in its reasonable discretion.
f) An historic oversight committee of no fewer than three and no greater than five people will be created to review all proposed and existing historical elements of the Park for accuracy and authenticity. Committee members will be appointed as follows and will require Council confirmation;
· Two (2) members shall be representatives from Neighborhood Planning Unit-L who are not currently serving as an officer and must be appointed by a majority vote of the body;
· Two (2) members shall be representatives from the Vine City Civic Association who are not currently serving as an officer and must be appointed by a majority vote of the body;
· One (1) member shall be a representative from The Trust for Public Land;
· One (1) member shall be a representative from West Side Future Fund;
· One (1) member shall be a representative from the Arthur M Blank Family Foundation;
· One (1) member shall be a representative of Park Pride, Inc;
· One (1) member shall be appointed by the District 3 Councilmember;
· One (1) member shall be appointed by the Post 1 At-Large Councilmember; and
· The Commissioner of Parks & Recreation, or his designee.
g) NMF shall be required to comply with all Atlanta City Code Section 2-1445’s Statement of Policy regarding EBO compliance in all contracting, subcontracting and other procurement as applicable.
Section 4: Phase 1 of the Peace Park will be completed consistent with the terms outlined in a ground lease agreement pending final negotiations by the Mayor.
Section 5: The NMF has provided a comprehensive financial model to the City for the Peace Museum complex.
Section 6: Annual rent for the Premises shall be set forth in the ground lease agreement to be negotiated by the Mayor.
Section 7: In accordance with Section 1-102(c)(7) of the City of Atlanta Charter, the City of Atlanta is authorized to accept a donation of an artwork installation dedicated to Congressman John R. Lewis from The National Monuments Foundation, to be installed and displayed at Rodney Cook, Sr. Park, upon the completion of construction of the Donated Art Installation and Rodney Cook, Sr. Park, the total value of which to be an amount not to exceed Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($350,000.00). The Mayor or her designee, on behalf of the City, is authorized to negotiate and enter into a Maintenance Agreement with NMF with a value not to exceed Seven Thousand Dollars ($7,000.00), and for a period of up to 20 years, for the ongoing maintenance of the John Lewis Statue for such period and upon such terms as shall be agreeable to the City. The Mayor or her designee, on behalf of the City, is authorized to enter into any necessary agreements in connection with the donation as authorized herein. No agreement in connection with the donation as authorized herein shall become binding upon the City, and the City shall incur no liability upon same until agreement has been approved by the City Attorney or her designee as to form, executed by the Mayor or her designee, and attested to by the Municipal Clerk.
Section 8: Every six months, beginning on the first Community Development/Human Services ("CDHS") Committee meeting following execution of the ground lease agreement, a presentation will be made by NMF and the Department of Parks and Recreation ("DPR") to the CDHS Committee regarding the status of the construction of Rodney Cook Sr. Park, and such presentations shall continue until completion of the construction and final acceptance of the work by DPR.
Section 9: All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby waived for purposes of this Ordinance only, and only to the extent of the conflict.
EXHIBIT A
PREMISES
EXHIBIT B
GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE CITY OF ATLANTA
AND
NATIONAL MONUMENTS FOUNDATION, INC.