2 Environmental Groups File Lawsuit Against DeKalb County

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit Friday against DeKalb County in an attempt to stop a land swap between the county and a local film studio.

The South River Watershed Alliance and the South River Forest Coalition said in the lawsuit that the county does not have the authority to complete the swap, which involves giving 40 acres of existing park land to Blackhall Studios in exchange for 53 acres that the county would turn into a new park.

"The land exchange represents an unlawful conversion of public park land to private uses and a waste of taxpayer money," the lawsuit reads.

The county and Blackhall Studios closed on the land swap deal earlier this month after almost three years of discussion, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The deal gives 40 acres of the existing Intrenchment Creek Park to Blackhall Studios for a campus expansion, while DeKalb gets Blackhall-owned land along Bouldercrest Road for a new park.

The lawsuit argues that this land swap violates the language in original deed transfer documents, when the county received the 40 acres of Intrenchment Creek Park from the Trust for Public Land and the Arthur M. Blank Foundation in 2003; however, TPL and the Blank Foundation both signed off on the recent land swap deal, the AJC reported.

“The land exchange has been driven in large part, if not exclusively, by Blackhall Studios with propaganda and unsecured promises about anticipated benefits of the exchange,” the lawsuit reads.

The South River groups ask a judge to: issue injunctions prohibiting the land exchange between DeKalb County and Blackhall Studios; nullify any land exchange that's already occurred; and prevent Intrenchment Creek Park from private development. They allege that the county should have brought the land exchange forward to residents via a public referendum.

Read more on the AJC's website.