Brookhaven Sues DeKalb County Over Brookhaven Park Ownership

BROOKHAVEN, GA — The city of Brookhaven filed a lawsuit Monday against DeKalb County over the title and full ownership of Brookhaven Park, which is currently split between the two entities, the city announced in a Jan. 11 news release.

Brookhaven Park spans 21 acres at the southwest corner of Peachtree and Osborne roads, containing athletic fields and courts, trails, multi-use fields and greenspaces, a community center, picnic areas, a 5-acre dog park — the largest in metro Atlanta — and other amenities, the release said.

More than a decade ago, the Georgia General Assembly specified that newly-incorporated cities such as Brookhaven were entitled to acquire title to county-owned parks located within the new city for $100 per acre, according to the news release. DeKalb “begrudgingly” sold the western half of Brookhaven Park in 2017, the release said, but the city claims the county has refused to sell the remaining county-owned eastern half of the park.

“We should not have to be litigating over the park. But sadly, DeKalb has left us no choice. Brookhaven Park falls within my district and I have a duty and responsibility to my constituents,” District 3 Council Member Madeleine Simmons said in the news release. “DeKalb has demonstrated that they are unwilling and incapable of maintaining their side of the park. Our neighborhoods deserve better. We have tried for years to work with DeKalb in good faith on these issues, and it goes nowhere. Governments should work together for the greater good of their joint constituents and it saddens me that DeKalb’s inaction has forced us down this route.”

The city claims that DeKalb County is not complying with the law by keeping ownership of the eastern portion of the park, and using the land as leverage against the city of Brookhaven in “unrelated policy and political disputes,” per the news release.

“For example, DeKalb continues to propose using significant amounts of the greenspace adjacent to the existing building to build a new county-owned library, and so says they will not sell the land to Brookhaven,” the news release said. “However, the county’s excuse is untenable both because the community strongly opposes losing so much parkland and because the county does not have the funding to build that library.”

Patch has reached out to DeKalb County officials for comments and this story will be updated if/when a response is received.

“Although the state requires transfer of parkland at $100 an acre, we had offered DeKalb millions of dollars just to avoid filing this lawsuit,” City Manager Christian Sigman said in the news release. “Brookhaven Park has been a park and was enjoyed as a park for decades before Brookhaven became a city. Now DeKalb County claims the park isn’t a park, which is laughable.”