Twelve questions, answered directly.

The site plan shared this summer is an early concept, not a final design. We have heard very clearly that parking is a concern for the community. The concept was intended to illustrate the site’s potential capacity, not prescribe a final parking solution.

Before anything is finalized, the project team is evaluating alternatives to a stand-alone surface lot, including shared use of existing nearby parking (Hank Aaron Drive, Georgia State, King Middle School), parking within or beneath the building, and a smaller parking footprint focused on accessibility for staff. All remaining surface parking will incorporate green design features.

The final approach will be informed by a traffic and parking study, and community feedback and will be shared publicly before any zoning application or permitting is filed.

The fields north and west of the outdoor track are not vacant — they serve daily neighborhood use, APS track and cross-country, PATH Academy FC and Atlanta Track Club's free-to-all Kilometer Kids programming.

The project team is communicating with APS, PATH Academy FC, and area schools to determine how practice and game space will be preserved or replaced within the plan before any current use is displaced. The team is also committed to maintaining contiguous, publicly accessible green space as part of the campus.

A focus of the plan is to protect the property as an Olympic legacy site. As such we plan to improve the outdoor track and its infield for soccer and other field sports.

The flooding history of Summerhill and Peoplestown is squarely in view. The project must meet the City's current stormwater standards, and because the site drains largely unmanaged today, its stormwater systems will be designed to perform better than existing conditions. A tree survey is underway. The design team has been directed to preserve the mature canopy, including the 1996 Olympic willow oaks on Connally Street. And any on-site parking will use shade and permeable design.

Community access to the indoor and outdoor track is a structural condition of the project and ties to the mission of the Track Club. And access to the indoor center for those in Summerhill and its surrounding neighborhoods are a specific focus for the Track Club. The commitment is regular, predictable community hours at free or nominal cost. The Center’s operating hours will be documented in writing as part of the agreement, with specific caps for practice nights and events.

This will be an Atlanta Track Club operated facility on APS land. Shared-use terms for APS student-athletes, coaches and administrators will be detailed in the final agreement. Times of day, total hours and other sport specific details will then be made public.

Yes, the outdoor Cheney track remains a central part of the plan. Construction phasing is being designed to keep it open and safely accessible as much as possible during construction, with advance notice of any temporary closures.

We have also heard the community’s concerns about inconsistent access to the outdoor track today. As part of the APS shared-use agreement, access policies will be clearly defined, publicly posted and applied consistently with the goal of expanding public access beyond what is available today.

The project also includes improvements such as access to public restrooms for track users.

A traffic and parking study covering daily operations and event days will be completed and shared before the project seeks any zoning approval or permitting.

Alongside it, an event-management plan developed with residents will address what neighbors have raised directly: guaranteed ease of access and egress during events, advance notice of special event times, event parking and buses routed away from residential streets, support for residential permit parking if residents want it, and noise and lighting standards.

The Club also envisions an even more walkable neighborhood and campus by directing event parking to existing lots along and around Hank Aaron Drive, and not toward neighborhood streets. There will be no parking access from Little St. SE, or Connally St. SE. Atlanta Track Club has already engaged Georgia State University for use of the purple lot (also known as the media lot).

Yes. Please note that this answer replaces earlier FAQ language describing Georgia Avenue as a three-lane corridor. ATLDOT's Safe Streets redesign (fewer lanes, bike facilities) is expected before the center opens, and the project has begun coordinating with that effort and the city approved spur path on Connally connecting the Southside Beltline to Memorial Drive. The design treats walking, biking, and public transit as primary impacts to Georgia Avenue east of Hank Aaron with MARTA's Rapid A-Line stop just blocks away.

Yes. Operating hours for the outdoor track will be documented in writing as part of the agreement, with specific caps for evening and early morning hours for residents and the community at large. To be posted publicly once finalized.

Cheney Stadium has been a track and field venue since the 1996 Olympics, is owned by the Track Club’s partner Atlanta Public Schools, and will remain public land under a long-term ground lease, with APS students gaining shared use of a competition-quality facility as a core purpose. In 2017, Atlanta Track Club resurfaced the outdoor track with an expectation that it be used by the community. Further investment here will provide more access and wellness to the community while preserving the site and its Olympic identity for at least the next half century.

The Track Club believes the center needs to be in town and close to residents, not in a major commercial or industrial corridor, so residents have ease of access and reduced barriers to entry and exercise. And with the addition of MARTA's Rapid A-Line, the Cheney property is among the most transit-accessible sites in the city for a center like this.

No lease has been executed, no zoning application has been filed, and the concept will be revised in response to feedback like the 90-plus submissions behind this FAQ. Community engagement is a condition precedent to the lease framework itself. Atlanta Track Club wants to be a good neighbor as it focuses on APS student-athletes, residents and local small businesses.

The benefits under discussion reflect what residents asked for: shared use for APS student-athletes, regular community hours on the indoor track, health care offerings, community meeting space, pedestrian plazas connecting the campus to the neighborhood, public restrooms, connectivity to Phoenix Park and its playground and other improvements, preserved or replaced youth soccer space, and active Georgia Avenue frontage rather than a blank wall, plus visitors supporting local businesses and a climate-controlled place to run in the summer. The Track Club has also committed to hiring at least 25% new full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees and interns from Summerhill and the surrounding neighborhoods. The Club will provide sport-specific job training programs (i.e., coaching, customer service, timing and data management, AV and broadcasting, event management) to the community.

The above will be written into an accountable community-benefits framework developed through the engagement process.