The City of Atlanta purchased the 75-acre Chattahoochee Brick Company (CBC) site on Brick Plant Road and in Chattahoochee neighborhood of NPU G and in Council District 9 for future use as a memorial to forced labor and a park. It will be the City of Atlanta’s first park with direct access to the river and major step achieving the vision of “bringing the City to its river”. The City of Atlanta purchased the 75-acre Chattahoochee Brick Company (CBC) site on Brick Plant Road and in Chattahoochee neighborhood of NPU G and in Council District 9 for future use as a memorial to forced labor and a park. It will be the City of Atlanta’s first park with direct access to the river and major step achieving the vision of “bringing the City to its river”.

Chattahoochee Brick Company Site History and Contamination

In the 1870s, the Chattahoochee Brick Company (CBC) was built at the junction of the river and a mainline railway, both needed for brickmaking operations. CBC used convict leasing for its labor until the system was abolished in 1909 due to widespread prisoner abuse. Afterwards, CBC continued brick making operations with “free labor” (i.e., paid workers). General Share purchased CBC in the 1960s and operated at the site until the 2000s.

Between 1875 and 2010, numerous CBC buildings were constructed and demolished in multiple phases as part of the evolution of the facility in its brick making operations. After General Shale purchased CBC, operations shifted to truck transportation with the opening of I-285 nearby. General Shale filled the low-lying areas of the Proctor Creek floodplain with waste materials, including defective bricks, debris from demolished CBC buildings and offsite contaminated fill and battery carcasses to increase the elevation and level the site for the construction of a new generation of buildings.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Brownfield Program

The Hazardous Site Response Act (HSRA), Georgia’s state superfund statute, was enacted in 1992 to supplement Georgia’s ability to address releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents. The GA Environmental Protection Division Land Protection Branch (LPB) administers cleanup of many types of site impacts, whether resulting from releases of hazardous waste, hazardous constituents, or petroleum.

The Georgia Brownfield Act provides liability protection to prospective purchasers of contaminated properties from third party claims arising from past releases and groundwater cleanup. In exchange, the Prospective Purchaser must investigate and cleanup soil and source material to meet the risk reduction standards (RRS- state cleanup standards) promulgated under the Rules for Hazardous Site Response. The Prospective Purchaser makes an application to enter a site into the GA EPD Brownfield Program, prepares a Corrective Action Plan (PPCAP) and specifies the Cleanup Standards (i.e. RRS), based on proposed use, to GA EPD for their approval.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division Cleanup Standards

The Georgia EPD Risk Reduction Standards (RRS) (cleanup standards) ensure that hazardous sites are managed effectively to protect public health and the environment. Standards are based on site use and exposure potential. The Types of RRS are:

• Type 1 RRS: For residential properties based on standardized exposure assumptions and defined risk levels.
• Type 2 RRS: For residential properties based on site-specific risk assessments.
• Type 3 RRS: For non-residential properties using standardized exposure assumptions and defined risk levels.
• Type 4 RRS: For non-residential properties requiring site-specific risk assessments.
• Type 5 RRS: Applicable when Types 1-4 are not suitable, allowing contamination to remain if controlled by engineering and institutional measures.

Environmental Site Assessments and Previous Remediation

The previous property owner conducted Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) and entered the CBC site into the GA EPD Brownfield Program. ESAs identified four Areas of Concern (AOC) with one or more constituents in soils at levels greater than the GA Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Type 3 (non-residential) Risk Reduction Standards (RRS). The AOCs, shown on the map, are:

• AOC-1 is located at the site of former CBC buildings, on a former ridge on the east-central portion of the Site
• AOC-2 is located at the site of former CBC buildings on the west-central portion of the Site
• AOC-3 and 4 are located in the Proctor Creek floodplain.

Remediation was performed by the previous owner in portions of AOC-3 and AOC-4, as shown in the blue dash marks in the map below, in compliance with Type 5 Risk Reduction Standards that allowed for the impacted soil to remain in place above non-residential clean-up standards and located below a 1ft surface barrier. A total of 17,558 tons of impacted soil were excavated and sent for offsite disposal.

EPA Brownfield Cleanup Grant

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the City of Atlanta a $2M Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) FY23 Brownfield Cleanup Grant for the remediation of the CBC site.

Design Phase Investigation and Cleanup Plan

Excavation limits/design phase investigation was conducted to assess the environmental status in areas of known exceedances of the Type 1 RRS in surface soils previously not investigated and to delineate areas of soil with constituents of concern (COC) reported above Type 1 RRS in samples collected during previous investigation. Soil samples were collected throughout AOC-1, AOC-2, AOC-3, AOC-4 and other sample locations from varying depths and analyzed for constituents of concern (Lead, PCB, VOC, Metals) to determine the extent of contamination requiring removal to achieve compliance with a Type I RRS.

The cleanup standard for park use of the site consists of retaining the Type 5 RRS while meeting Type 1 RRS in the 0 to 1 foot surface soils. This would be achieved by removing the first foot of soil with constituents of concern (COC) at concentrations above the Type 1 RRS, backfilling with clean soil and installing a demarcation barrier prior to backfill.

Based on the results of the investigations excavation, the site cleanup will consist of management & proper disposal of ~ 3,800 cubic yards/5,700 tons of impacted soil (Lead, VOC, Metals). The areas of impacted soil impacted with COCs above the Type 1 RRS that require excavation and proper off-site disposal are shown in pink on the map below.

Environmental Documents

The City of Atlanta’s Qualified Environmental Professional prepared several environmental documents. These are:

Cleanup Costs

A FY23 EPA Brownfield Cleanup grant will pay for the remediation costs.

Get Involved

Additional Information

For additional information please click the links below.

• Chattahoochee Brick Brownfield Cleanup Plan Fact Sheet
• Brownfield Cleanup July 27, 2026, Community Meeting Notice
• CBC Site Cleanup Presentation to the CBC Park and Memorial Board - December 2025
• Chattahoochee Brick Company Planning and Design Process webpage
• Chattahoochee Brick Company Site Historic Site Characterization Activities, Conclusions, and Recommendations
• Chattahoochee Brick Company Site Design Phase Investigation Report
• Chattahoochee Brick Company Site July 27th Community Meeting presentation
• Chattahoochee Brick Company Site Decision Document