About the Peachtree Creek Greenway
The Vision
A multi-use trail connecting all communities along the North Fork Peachtree Creek.
The Mission
Advocating for the creation of the Peachtree Creek Greenway.
Peachtree Creek Greenway History
A group of local residents established our organization in 2013 in a grassroots effort to advocate for the creation of the Peachtree Creek Greenway along its namesake creek - connecting Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Unincorporated DeKalb, and Doraville.
Peachtree Creek Greenway: A Dream Realized
The Timeline
2000
DeKalb County envisions a bicycle-pedestrian friendly path along the North Fork of Peachtree Creek as part of its county-wide trail network plan
2013
More than a decade later, local residents establish Peachtree Creek Greenway, Inc., a non-profit organization to advocate for the creation of the Peachtree Creek Greenway along its namesake creek - connecting Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Unincorporated DeKalb, and Doraville.
2014
DeKalb County awards Peachtree Creek Greenway Inc. "Beautification Group of the Year" for Earth Day cleanup along Peachtree Creek.
2015
Brookhaven begins funding design for the city's 3-mile trail. Chamblee rezones Century Center to ensure public access and a pedestrian path along its 1-mile section of Peachtree Creek.
2016
Brookhaven approves trail design and establishes fundraising mechanisms to build the Greenway.
2017
Brookhaven secures millions in revenue stream to build trail from hotel/motel tax and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), one of the city's biggest employers, who is investing millions in the community to redevelop its N. Druid Hills campus.
2018
"Model Mile" groundbreaking occurs after Brookhaven uses the hotel/motel tax to create a $15M revenue bond for Phase 1 construction. PCG becomes a federally-funded transportation project when Atlanta Regional Commission approves $2.7M for Phase 2.
2019
Grand Opening of the first section of the Peachtree Creek Greenway in Brookhaven. The PCG is added to Chamblee's Multi-Modal Transportation Plan. Atlanta's Planning Commissioner, Tim Keane, speaks at PCG's Business Mixer held in Chamblee. Doraville sets aside $450k in SPLOST dollars for PCG.
2020
Atlanta's first section of the paved Greenway near PATH400 and I-85 is funded through the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Act. Chamblee adopts the Universal Design Standards of the Peachtree Creek Greenway into their zoning ordinance. DeKalb County Department Directors of Transportation and of Parks/Rec begin ongoing meetings to bring PCG into DeKalb
2021
Planning begins for Phase 2 of the Greenway in Brookhaven. Further inroads into unincorporated DeKalb County, Chamblee, Atlanta, and Doraville anticipated.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mary Howell
Board Chair
Mary has 20+ years of achievement in finance, accounting, commercial real estate and nonprofit board management. She explicitly chooses to pursue a career that energizes me and makes a tangible difference in people's lives.
Fran Clowse
Secretary
A long-time resident of Atlanta, Fran Clowse has called this vibrant city home since her college years. She has been happily married to Steve for 31 years and spent 19 of those as a stay-at- home mom raising their three amazing daughters, who are now all in their 20s, in DeKalb County.
With a diverse career background, Fran has worked for enterprise organizations like Accenture and HBOC, in addition to running her own gift basket business. She has been an avid volunteer in her Dekalb county school district advocating for wellness education in the elementary schools as well as organizing fundraisers and managing volunteers while on the Chamblee HIgh School Orchestra Board and the Lakeside High School Drama Board. For the past decade, she has devoted her career to wellness coaching, currently serving at Hinge Health as a Health Coach, where she helps individuals reduce pain and live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
A passionate advocate for health and the outdoors, Fran enjoys running, hiking, and spending quality time with family and friends on the weekends. She is thrilled to join the Peachtree Creek Greenway Inc (PCGI) Board to help bring this exciting greenway project to the metro area, providing a new transportation option while offering valuable health, economic and environmental benefits.
Steve Clowse
Vice Chair
Steve moved to Atlanta in 1988 to begin a career in IT and management consulting. He has worked for Accenture, Home Depot, and a small consulting firm. Steve is currently a Program Director at Peraton, a federal government contractor. His primary client is CDC’s Division of Digital Media where his team provides IT application development and website support services for CDC’s website. Steve has experience in project management, business analysis, strategic planning, and organizational design. He is a walker, runner, and biker who is eager to see the Peachtree Creek Greenway grow to connect our communities and provide health and economic benefits to more people. He is excited to join the Board to increase awareness and action to make the PCG vision a reality. Steve and his wife, Fran, live in unincorporated Dekalb County.
Jeffri Epps
Jeffri L. Epps brings strategic thinking to organizations to help them achieve their goals, and is involved in planning, customer discovery and research, product innovation and development, compliance and other marketing services. Jeffri’s career has enabled her to work on businesses from Fortune 100 multinational companies to start-ups. Additionally, her experiences ranged from working with new products packaging, services, brick and mortar and online retail. As a strategic marketer, she works on high level business concepts to P&L impact and in market execution. Jeffri has held leadership positions with The Coca-Cola Company, Chupa Chups USA, WH Smith and Ralston Purina. Active in her community, Jeffri is an alumnus of the United Way VIP nonprofit board training program. Jeffri is a member of the Junior League of Atlanta. Jeffri has earned her Bachelors in Finance from Georgetown University. She has an MBA in Marketing from Atlanta University graduating Magna Cum Laude. In her spare time, Jeffri enjoys playing tennis, cooking and traveling. She has a personal goal of visiting all 50 states and 7 continents.
Josh White
Josh White serves on the Board of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, bringing a wealth of public affairs and community engagement experience to the organization. He currently works for Fulton County as Director of Community Relations for Commissioner Dana Barrett, where he focuses on constituent services, events, and policy initiatives.
Previously, Josh was the principal and founder of Foxhole Strategies, a public affairs and fundraising consulting firm that helped win elections, achieve legislative goals, and build public support for responsible public policies.
With a fresh perspective and a deep passion for connecting communities, Josh is committed to advancing the vision of a thriving Peachtree Creek Greenway.
Ronda Fox
Ronda has lived near North Fork Peachtree Creek since 1964 – and for years, she never knew it was there! She is thrilled to be part of the discovery, clean-up and protection of this local treasure.
Ronda’s deep-rooted concern for our environment has heightened in the last decade because of extended visits to highly-polluted world capitals as well as travels to locales that value and protect air and water. She sees working toward transportation alternatives that make both the environment and the citizenry healthier as a golden opportunity to create a legacy for future generations.
With 30 years of experience in sales, building and managing sales teams, creating and developing new business entities, customer relations, and 15 years of business ownership with Standard Office Systems, Ronda looks forward to creating opportunities for all citizens to contribute to the success of the Peachtree Creek Greenway.
Stephanie Runyan
Stephanie is a native of Atlanta and a long-time resident of Brookhaven. She has a passion for conservation, traveling, and scuba diving. Stephanie brings over 20 years of experience in leading organizations to achieve their strategic goals. She has worked with many Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits in the US and internationally. Stephanie is excited to contribute to the expansion of the PCG trail, connecting communities in DeKalb County.
Mitchell Dagley
Mitchell has lived in Atlanta for over 10 years in neighborhoods bordering the North Fork Peachtree Creek. His professional background spans market research, real estate investing, and private lending. Mitchell is excited to help advocate for the Peachtree Creek Greenway and realize the vision of expanding the trail to improve connectivity to northeastern Atlanta communities.
Andrew Costa
Upon discovering the Peachtree Creek Greenway on his bike, Andrew Costa developed a deep appreciation for this unique green space and its potential to connect the community. An active cyclist and Greenway user, he is committed to ensuring everyone may benefit from the Greenway.
Andrew’s professional journey spans over 25 years, building and leading technology solutions and teams for premier firms in the retail, banking, finance, and consulting industries. Currently a Management Consultant, Andrew enjoys turning complex challenges into practical solutions.
Andrew's non-profit experience includes serving as an Officer of a 30+ acre community HOA, leading efforts across finance, operations, strategic governance, and community engagement.
A resident of Brookhaven, Andrew is currently pursuing his studies at Wharton's Chief Technology Officer Executive Program and holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University.
Diana Hofsommer
Diana lives in Buckhead near both PATH400 and the Model Mile of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, both of which will ultimately connect into the Atlanta Beltline. After biking for years in a very bikeable college town, it was a rude and terrifying awakening to try it in Midtown when she first transplanted here. It's been a long time coming, but the reality of biking from home to Piedmont Park via dedicated pathways safe from vehicles will be a dream come true.
She's assisting the PCGI with her skills acquired from the business, government, and non profit sectors in marketing, finance, and development. She's usually picking up trash on daily walks anyway, so doing Creek Clean-ups with a group makes it fun. Being the change we want to see in the world is important, and so is voting to ensure the vision is realized.
Duncan Van Pelt
Duncan is a graduate of The Citadel and arrived in Atlanta over 30 years ago from Charlotte NC. He is married to Kathy and has twin girls, one just finished her MSBA at UGA Terry Business School and the other completing her Masters of Hydrology as a Fulbright scholar at VU Amsterdam.
His passion for Peachtree Creek started over a dozen years ago as an adventure racer and urban explorer. In 2012, he was a pioneer of the Mercer Trail Project with Richard Swindel of Mercer, Joe Basista of DeKalb Watershed and Greta deMayo of Kaizen Collaborative, among many others. Duncan is known to paddle Peachtree Creek with TIREdOfThisGarbage and is an advocate for the health and protection of the waterway.
He is currently at Delta Air Lines in Finance with a focus on tax and automation. He is a member of Leadership DeKalb class of 2012. While at a previous company, Georgia-Pacific, he served as Board Member & Chairman of the GP ServiceForce, with a focus of building community partnerships with nonprofits. He also served as Corporate Representative for Metro Atlanta American Red Cross - LifeBoard for several years.
In his community, he has served as a board member on the Briarcliff Woods Civic Association, Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council; Executive Committee Member & Special Events Chair at Metro Atlanta American Red Cross; Scoutmaster & Unit Commissioner—BSA (10 yrs) and Program Chair & Board Member—Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership of Georgia (HOBY).
Duncan is excited to advance the mission of the PCG by connecting communities and protecting this extraordinary urban corridor.
FOUNDERS/ALUMNI OF THE BOARD
These founders and alumni of the Board engage with the Peachtree Creek Greenway, Inc. with their time, talent, and treasure.
