For decades, a 280-acre site in Atlanta scarred by the impacts of its industrial past as a granite quarry, had been burdened with construction debris from the 1997 demolition of the renowned Fulton County Stadium and had long endured negative connotations stemming from its days as a prison labor camp. In the mid-2010s, this location was targeted for redevelopment by the city, who devised an initial concept for that undertaking and began soliciting proposals from design/build teams to develop a master plan and phase one implementation strategies that would augment and/or challenge the city's ideas. Then known as Westside Bellwood Quarry Park, the site was taken on by local planning and landscape architecture firm HGOR and would eventually be renamed Shirley Clarke Franklin Park.

Taking Shape
HGOR helped formulate a conceptual design that more purposefully addressed the land's natural contours while capitalizing on a series of high points distributed amongst the acreage that revealed unique quarry views and an impressive skyline. The team also challenged the notion of a road through the park and sought to reduce pedestrian and car conflicts or eliminate the idea of the road completely.

While the city readily received the team and their plan, then-Mayor Kasim Reed told the design team, "I have always envisioned a lion coming up out of the quarry and engulfing the citizens of Atlanta." The mayor then directed the team to look at Olivier Strebelle's "Les Lions d'Atlanta," two well-known landmark sculptures perched in front of downtown Atlanta's Marriott Marquis Hotel. Upon photographing and studying the pair, the Landscape Architects determined that the lions were derived from a series of circles. From there, they considered the circle construct as representative of both encircling or protecting, and illustrative of opportunity and abundance through the use of pi to calculate the area and circumference.

 
As a result, the locations of key site plan elements were shifted slightly and organized around a series of interconnected arcs to represent both a place to gather and a place of opportunity for all. The mayor enthusiastically embraced the overarching symbolism, and the team moved forward.

Community Input
As the goal was to become a regional park within the city, public engagement was needed to gather critical information regarding needs and desires from a broad cross-section of the city and the neighborhoods surrounding the park - essentially those that would be most influenced by points of access and park activities. Additionally, the community needed to be educated on the limitations presented by the quarry pond in order to provide a 90-day supply of emergency drinking water within the city's resiliency plans.

Leading the public input process, the Landscape Architect and the city moved to establish a 16-person, community-based advisory committee to collect feedback and disseminate accurate information to all interested parties. Over the ensuing 16 months, nine advisory board meetings, 9,500 unique visits to the project's website, three major community meetings with 250+ people, and numerous meetings with community-based nonprofits occurred establish mutual goals that would provide positive impacts beyond the park's boundaries. The advisory committee built a system around education through open and honest communication to establish goals and principles. These became the yardstick by which all ideas - community and professional - could be collectively measured for their validity.

Feedback Findings
The results of the participatory process indicated that the park's design should work to heal the land, address and respect its history, and provide a broad range of passive and recreational park experiences. Additionally, it illustrated that - beyond the design - the park needed to be transformative, community-based, and connected to the larger urban fabric. The ensuing design removed the trans-park roadway and established multiple points of pedestrian and bike connectivity, such as links to the nearby Beltline and the Proctor Creek trail that afford regional connectivity. Overlooks - carefully positioned to fully capitalize on unique vistas - and activity spaces for concerts and other large events became coupled with ADA-accessible trails and pathways.

An Ecofriendly Commitment
Green infrastructure was a significant factor in the design and development. A 2.1-acre parking lot features vegetated swales and bio-detention cells. Removing invasive species and establishing a 100% native plant palette lay the groundwork for healing the post-industrial landscape. Reestablishing nature and forming a functioning landscape within the park became cornerstones of the SITES and resilience protocols. To further site sustainability while providing multi-generational experiences, the plan established opportunity zones throughout the park and boasts over 10,000 square feet of future building possibilities.

The project achieved the desired sustainability goals by integrating LEED Silver-certified energy and water efficiency facilities, enabling the ability to minimize natural gas for new buildings, incorporating solar power and electrification, and positioning the visitor center as a "Resilience and Community Living Building Hub" and emergency shelter. Park sustainability was supported by creating a zero-waste park, including support for trash traps in Proctor Creek and educational signage on recycling/composting bins and the impact of waste on creek ecosystems. This success of this tremendous transformation is evidenced by the design and engineering feat of turning the 35.5-acre quarry into Atlanta's major emergency water source. Looking forward, future phases have been planned to maintain site activation, provide for amenity growth, and maximize economic potential.

In Summary
Since opening to the public in August 2021, the park has quickly realized the original vision: a civic-scale landscape that functions as an everyday neighborhood greenspace as well as a destination for the whole city. As Atlanta's newest and largest park, its trails, overlooks, and flexible lawns have supported a steady cadence of community use and programming, including organized running events, seasonal "movies in the park" gatherings, and large-format, family-friendly festivals.

That momentum helps frame the significance of the 2025 rechristening to Shirley Clarke Franklin Park, which formally links the project to the leadership that made the quarry-to-park transformation possible. Former Mayor Shirley Franklin had a major role in acquiring the quarry and setting the foundation for a park that is also a critical water infrastructure. For HGOR, this is more than a change on a sign - it reinforces the project's legacy through the planning and design work that translated Franklin's long-range, resilient-city idea into a lived public place that continues to attract investment in access and connectivity.

As seen in LASN magazine, March 2026.