Atlanta, May 5 - The following article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 5, 2006 and was authored by Eric Stirgus and Bob Kemper.  

The Army this week gave Forest Park and Clayton County officials six more months to work out a plan to divide and develop land now available with the closing of Fort Gillem.

U.S. Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat whose congressional district includes the base, has been lobbying the Pentagon to temporarily halt the transfer of 315 acres of the 1,400-acre site to the Federal Emergency Management Agency until local officials could negotiate which parts of the site they could put aside for development.

The Army had set a May 9 deadline to submit plans for the development of the property.

"It gives an opportunity to really do something very exciting for this region to bring a positive story to this bleak situation," Scott said Thursday.

Forest Park officials say a manufacturing company is interested in building a plant on part of the site, although it's uncertain whether those plans would materialize. Community officials have talked about using the land for a mix of residential, commercial and recreational uses.

"You can't be an adversary to an organization that is trying to help people," Forest Park City Manager John Parker said of FEMA. Parker is hopeful an agreement can be reached.

Scott now is trying to organize a meeting between a dozen officials from the community, the Army and FEMA to negotiate a comprehensive plan for dividing the land.

Fort Gillem was one of four military bases ordered closed in North Georgia last year by a federal base-closing commission.