Brookhaven City Council has approved a resolution to purchase a 1.3-acre wooded property at 1020 Mendell Circle for $750,000. If completed, the acquisition would add the parcel to Lynwood Park and take it permanently off the table for private development. The lot sits next to Lynwood Park and the Lynwood Park Recreation Center, and it's packed with specimen trees that city officials say are worth protecting rather than replacing.
According to WSB-TV, the parcel holds between 30 and 40 specimen trees, including American beech, tulip poplar, red maple, white oak, hickory and loblolly pine, along with understory and midstory plant species that fill out the forest layers beneath the canopy. Brookhaven City Arborist Jeff Dadisman said preserving mature trees retains benefits that new plantings simply can't replicate quickly, including shade, wildlife habitat and natural stormwater functions. The city is covering the purchase price using its stormwater fund and tree fund rather than general tax dollars.
Tree and Stormwater Funds to Finance Purchase
Tree Fund revenue comes from developers who pay recompense when they remove trees during construction. Brookhaven is using money from that fund alongside stormwater funds for this acquisition.
It's a pattern the city has used before. In September 2024, Brookhaven purchased the adjoining 0.5-acre property at 926 Devine Circle for $500,000 out of the general fund, according to reporting at the time from Rough Draft Atlanta. District 1 Councilmember Michael Diaz noted that mature trees were recently lost on land adjacent to the city's purchases, pointing specifically to development-driven tree loss near Devine Circle as a reason to act before the Mendell Circle lot met the same fate.
Nearly Two Acres Added to a Historic Park
If completed, the Mendell Circle acquisition, combined with the Devine Circle acquisition, would add about 1.8 acres of greenspace to Lynwood Park, which previously covered a 10.8-acre footprint. Diaz said the acquisitions will expand the park by nearly two acres, preserve dozens of mature trees and protect the natural area for future generations — a roughly 17% increase in the park's overall size.
Mayor John Park framed the proposed purchase as part of a broader strategy to protect environmental resources as Brookhaven continues to grow. Park said the acquisition reflects the city's commitment to protecting greenspace as the city expands, adding that public ownership would conserve a natural asset for current and future residents. If the purchase is completed, public ownership of the Mendell Circle site would prevent future commercial or residential redevelopment there outright.
Roots in DeKalb County's Oldest Black Subdivision
Lynwood Park itself carries deep historical weight. Established in the early 1930s, it stands as one of DeKalb County's oldest historically Black communities. In 2020, Brookhaven gave the neighborhood an official historic designation and planned a plaque recognizing the Lynwood Trailblazers, the students who integrated the county's public school system in 1968, as documented by Urbanize Atlanta.
The park has already seen major public investment. Brookhaven voters approved a $40 million parks bond in 2018 that allocated nearly $11 million specifically to overhaul Lynwood Park, the largest single park renovation in city history. The renovation was planned to include a splash pad, swimming pool, pool house, multi-use synthetic turf field and parking improvements, with completion expected by the end of 2022.
Development Pressure Keeps Climbing
Development Pressure Keeps Climbing The acquisition arrives amid development pressure in the surrounding neighborhood, where wooded lots may be attractive targets for teardown-and-rebuild projects.
That pressure fits into a wider regional trend. A 2023 tree canopy assessment released in August showed neighboring Atlanta's canopy cover has dropped to 45.5%, with the city losing nearly 150 acres of tree cover annually between 2008 and 2023, largely driven by residential construction, according to data reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Brookhaven's own 2021 tree canopy assessment found coverage across 44% of the city's land area, or 3,411 of its 7,805 total acres — a baseline the city is now trying to protect parcel by parcel.
A Harder Call on the Other Side of Town
Not every recent land-use decision in Brookhaven has drawn the same consensus. The Mendell Circle purchase came in the same month the City Council approved a separate, more contested 3-1 vote to lease 1.35 acres of Blackburn Park to DeKalb County for a new fire station, a decision Hoodline reported sparked resident protests over losing mature tree canopy elsewhere in the city. Residents there petitioned the council to find alternative fire station sites rather than clear parkland trees, underscoring that greenspace protection in Brookhaven isn't always a straightforward win even as the city spends to preserve it in Lynwood Park.
