Union City Commerce Center, Evans Drive Phase I Cultural Resources Assessment Union City, Fulton County, Georgia

This report documents the results of a cultural resource assessment survey performed by Greenhouse Consultants Incorporated in conjunction with its PaleoWest affiliate of approximately 10 acres in Fulton County, Georgia. The proposed Union City Commerce Center project would construct four buildings that would impact five stream and wetland areas comprising ± 311 linear feet (± 0.023 acres) of stream and ± 0.447 acres of wetland. The Area of Potential Effects (APE) for this survey comprises approximately 10 acres defined by a 100-foot buffer surrounding these five discrete wetland and stream impact areas on lots 84, 100, 101, and 102 of district 9F, south of Roosevelt Highways in Union City, GA.

The purpose of this survey was to locate and identify historic properties within the APE and to assess the significance of such properties with respect to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) criteria in 36 CFR 60, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. The survey was completed in accordance with federal and state regulations, and it was undertaken to comply with the Georgia Standards and Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations provided by the Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists (GCPA 2019).

Shovel test pits (STP) were pre-plotted within the APE at 30 meter (m) intervals, with pedestrian survey conducted on transects between STP. The Greenhouse Consultants team plotted a total of 53 STP, 14 of which were unable to be excavated. All STP were negative for cultural material. Background research revealed that no previously recorded archaeological sites or historical resources are present within the APE. Pedestrian survey within the APE identified one historical resource.

Historical Resource #001 is a newly documented segment of a historic railroad corridor intersecting the APE. The Greenhouse Consultants team documented the resource and determined that it is a part of the Manchester to Atlanta branch of the main line of the historic Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad (ABC). The main line and its branches (MAIN) have been previously recommended as contributing to the NRHP-eligible ABC by the Georgia Department of Transportation in 2018; our team concurs with the recommendation that the ABC is eligible for the NRHP under Criteria A and C, and that the MAIN is a contributing resource. We recommend that the segment of MAIN intersecting the APE contributes to the NRHP-eligible ABC. This resource intersects with the 100-foot buffer surrounding two of the wetland and stream impact areas—the footprint of proposed building development does not overlap with this resource. Therefore, the proposed development within the APE will have no adverse effect on this resource.

This survey established that the undertaking within the currently defined APE should have no adverse effects on sites eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Greenhouse Consultants recommends no additional archaeological investigation within the APE.