Cop City fight: Court battle over Atlanta Public Safety Center continues as opening date nears

ATLANTA - Activists hoping to shut down the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center are quickly running out of time.

Officials say training is already underway at the DeKalb County facility, while a referendum effort to force the controversial project to a vote remains in limbo.

MORE: Atlanta Public Safety Training Center reportedly opening in spring 2025

Atlanta "Cop City" fight

The backstory:

The 85-acre, $115-million facility has been the subject of debate for years as activists attempt to stop what they have nicknamed "Cop City." 

Protests against the project, which have at times resulted in violence and vandalism, escalated after state troopers fatally shot an activist near the site in January 2023. A special prosecutor in October 2023 said he would not pursue charges against the troopers who shot Tortuguita, saying he found that their use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable."

PREVIOUS STORY: Tour Atlanta's new $115M training facility for first responders

An aerial view of the training center.

The city says the issues caused by protesters have raised the cost of the training center by about $20 million. In August 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 protesters using the state's anti-racketeering law, characterizing them as "militant anarchists."

MORE: Atlanta Public Safety Training Center security enhancements could raise price tag by $1.7M

As part of the action against the center, opponents collected more than 108,000 signatures in 2023, saying voters should be able to have their say on the project. That effort has remained stalled in federal court for more than a year.

What they're saying:

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and supporters say that the facility will replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers. 

In court on Monday, the city's attorneys urged the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out the referendum push, saying that police officers, firefighters and first responders have begun training at the "state-of-the-art facility."

"Any referendum on the ground lease ordinance will not remove the Center from the site or prevent its use by the City for these purposes," the attorneys wrote.

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Even if a referendum took place, "any outcome of such a referendum would be merely academic at this point — the Center has been built and will not be torn down," they added.

The other side:

Attorneys for four people who live outside the city and sued for the right to collect signatures say that just because the training center has been built does not negate the primary issue — whether voters can revoke the city’s 50-year lease to the Atlanta Police Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the facility.

"The lease does not terminate upon completion of construction of the training center," the attorneys wrote. "That alone should end the mootness inquiry."

Activist bring the collected signatures to City Hall in 2023.

The attorneys for the facility opponents also argued that the case has an underlying First Amendment issue that must be resolved: Can nonresidents collect signatures for a referendum effort they are not eligible to vote on?

Keyanna Jones, one of the plaintiffs, said she formerly lived near the training center site, which is just outside Atlanta city limits in unincorporated DeKalb County. She said collecting petitions was one of the few ways neighbors outside the city could fight the project.

What's next:

If the court rules against the opponents of the facility, it's likely that the process of analyzing the petition's signatures would never begin.

Even if the appeals court does not dismiss the case because of the training center’s completion, the judges could still kill the petition drive by ruling it illegal under state law, or rule all of the signatures are void because none were submitted by the original 60-day deadline of Aug. 21, 2023.

The judges could also narrow which petitions will be accepted - a decision that could also doom the referendum push's chances.

The center is expected to be fully operational by the end of March or beginning of April.