ATLANTA — Opponents of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center have launched a new front in the effort to stop its construction, filing a federal lawsuit this week saying plans for the building of the facility violate the Clean Water Act.
The suit, filed in the Atlanta federal district court, comes as activists organizing a referendum say they're now only 10,000 signatures shy of qualifying that petition for a vote.
Site work has already been done for the training center, called "Cop City" by opponents, and construction work is due to begin sometime this summer.
The lawsuit, filed by the South River Watershed Alliance, argues building the facility will violate the Clean Water Act "because stormwater discharges from the Atlanta Training Facility construction site were not in compliance with the general permit" allowing its construction.
RELATED: Atlanta public safety training center activists say they're confident of getting 70K signatures
The project has previously cleared regulatory hurdles in DeKalb County, where it is to be built on a portion of the South River Forest, and it has had funding approved by the Atlanta City Council.
The effort for a referendum to revoke the City Council's funding measure, along with the new federal suit, represent some of the last obstacles for the project.
"Sediment from the Atlanta Training Facility construction site is degrading the water quality and aquatic habitat," in the area, the suit asserts, and "lessening the aesthetic, scenic, and recreational values" of the site.
"Stormwater from the Atlanta Training Facility is discharged into a perennial tributary that originates on the construction site and flows into Intrenchment Creek," it further states. "Intrenchment Creek doesn’t meet water quality standards because sediment degrades habitat needed to support fish and macroinvertebrate populations."
The suit seeks a judgement that the City of Atlanta and Atlanta Police Foundation are in violation of the Clean Water Act and "injunctive relief requiring defendants to stop the discharge of sediment caused by construction activity at the Atlanta Training Facility construction site until Intrenchment Creek has capacity to assimilate the sediment without interfering with the stream’s designated use."
The training center has been met with a roughly two-year-long protest movement as city politicians, including Mayor Andre Dickens, and the Atlanta Police Foundation (which is primarily funding the project) have argued it will have a much-needed modernizing effect on the police force. It is also slated to offer training capacity to the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department and the city's 911 center.
The protest movement mushroomed with the law enforcement shooting death of an activist, Manuel Paez Teran, in January. Officials have said the protester shot first at a Georgia State Patrol trooper as a clearing operation of the encampments was ongoing, then was killed in return fire. Teran's family and activists have strongly contested the official narrative.
The lack of bodycam videos - which are not worn by state law enforcement officers such as GSP troopers or Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents - has left unresolved what exactly happened.