Sunday, May 15, 2011

Brook Run - Update by Councilman Robert Wittenstein

 Huge Flat & Grassed over for Open Play

The Dunwoody City Council has been kicking around a proposal to modify the Dunwoody Parks Plan by properly grading and grassing over the open field at the back of Brook Run to allow a wide range of activities.  This change will improve drainage issues at Brook Run as well as reduce the number of trees that will need to be removed if the proposed baseball fields were to remain at that location.  It appears that Councilman Robert Wittenstein just sent the e-mail below to a number of residents that have been writing us on a regular basis, therefore I thought I would share.
All,

I wanted to provide those of you who have expressed interest in the Parks Master Plan with a brief update.

Several of us, led by Councilwoman Bonser, are working on an alternative proposal for the Parks Master Plan that removes all three ball fields from Brook Run and replaces them with an open, level field with terraced steps down for theater style viewing (without lighting). Care will be taken to ensure that any changes are runoff-neutral or result in a net reduction in runoff.

Our revised proposal will call for the three ball fields to be placed at another location to be acquired by the city. 

We are all working on crafting this proposed change in the interest of building a consensus on moving forward.  We have a lot of work to do to work out the specifics but my hope is that we will have a revised plan prior to our city council meeting on May 23rd.  Stay tuned for more information, which we will share as the plan changes get worked out.

Regards,

Robert

Robert Wittenstein
Dunwoody City Council

2 comments:

Mike said...

Excellent. I would much prefer an open field to baseball fields.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see Brook Run is perhaps off the table for new ballfields.

But the talk of building three new ballfields elsewhere is a nonstarter for me. I will not vote for any bond that includes funds to move the two fields we already have. This is not about kids, noise or lights. It is about financial responsibility. Spend our limited and precious tax dollars to rehab the existing two fields, but this is far cheaper than building three new fields from scratch elsewhere.

We don't need three fields just because the organizer says three are nicer to have than two. The northern metro area has plenty of ballfields. The community doesn't have to have all ballfield desires solved within Dunwoody city limits.

The current Nature Center program should be moved to Brook Run into an appropriate existing building. The Nature Center program is a good passive activity for Brook Run and its natural area for environmental teaching is much larger.

Then the current location of the Nature Center building and grounds could easily be turned into a playground and passive visitation parkland.

Altogether, this is a far less expensive rehab and repurpose proposition and is more appropriate for the size of our city finances.