 Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Vine City – credit, HDR inc.$40 million may seem like a lot of money to the average person, but it’s just a fraction of what municipalities were spending to cleanup and shore-up their cities and towns following Hurricane Helene. For Vine City, Atlanta, $40 million was the cost of a solution to flooding problems that long predate Helene. It bought the historic neighborhood a big, beautiful new park that works like a sponge. GNN has reported on the “sponge city” concept before, whereby parks and urban developers use greenery and water features to help absorb rain and floodwater to slow its entry into the drainage system. It’s been picked up by the Netherlands and China, and now too, in Atlanta with Rodney Cook Sr. Park. Atlanta City Council member Byron Amos, who was born and raised in Vine City, remembers several flooding events that left residents’ basements submerged and cars soaked through. Amos worked with the Trust for Public Land to adopt the sponge city concept for Vine City. “When water is rerouted through the neighborhood to this site, the pond fills up, and the rain gardens, other green infrastructure throughout the park houses water to be collected and basically take the load off the city’s stormwater system,” said Jay Wozniak with the trust. Despite being 300 miles inland, Helene reached out her stormy fingers even as far as Atlanta, and suddenly, Amos and Woziank’s solution would be put to the test. “People were calling, ‘The park is flooding! The park is flooding!’ and my response was, ‘It’s doing its job,” Amos told CBS News. Indeed, Rodney Cook Park filled up with 9 million gallons of water, but nearby residents’ homes stayed dry. Within 72 hours, Wozniak said, no one even knew a storm had taken place. In addition to being a piece of the stormwater system, the park is also a beautiful gathering space filled with water features, a multi-sport composite court, plenty of green spaces, and fitness equipment.Built for the trust by HDR, it collected no less than 10 major architecture, design, and landscape engineering awards. Innovative New 'Sponge' Park Helped Save Historic Atlanta Neighborhood from Flooding WATCH the story below from CBS… |
