Atlanta panel backs selling a street segment marked ‘not open’

A short stretch of Pelham Street NW is labeled “NOT OPEN” in Atlanta’s legal description. Now a city committee has backed removing it from the public street system and selling it to an adjoining property owner.⁠[1]

The Transportation Committee recommended the proposal 4–0 on Oct. 14, according to draft minutes. Ordinance 26-O-1523 covers 0.181 acres between Oliver and Lindsay streets and names Westside Acquisitions I LLC as the buyer. City Council consideration is listed for Oct. 19 at 1 p.m.; the committee vote was a recommendation, not a completed abandonment or sale.⁠[1]

The proposal says all abutting property owners consented to the conveyance and Atlanta’s transportation commissioner concluded the strip was no longer useful or necessary as a public street or right-of-way. The legal description cites a survey last revised May 9, 2025, describing the 30-foot-wide right-of-way as “NOT OPEN”—not a new closure announced by this vote.⁠[1]

The buyer would pay fair market value, but the ordinance does not state a purchase price or describe the land’s intended future use. The $2,500 it says the applicant has already paid is an advertising-and-appraisal fee, not the price of the property. Sale proceeds would enter the city’s Safety & Mobility Capital Finance Fund.⁠[1]

Existing public and private utility easements would remain. The proposal also carries an expiration condition: if a quitclaim deed is not recorded within one year after the ordinance takes effect, the abandonment would become null and void.⁠[1]