Mary Swint Friday, 15 June 2007
http://broadcastatlanta.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4995&Itemid=871
DeKalb County Parks and Recreation Department began demolition of the old hospital at the Liane Levetan Park at Brook Run in Dunwoody on June 15, two days after a crowd of residents complained about mismanagement of the park during a Bond Advisory Council meeting at Brook Run on June 13.
“We are proud to see improvements of our parks underway,” CEO Vernon Jones said Friday morning. “We are committed to our children and keeping our park facilities updated and the demolition of the hospital is a part of that plan.”
DeKalb County purchased from the state in 1998 the old Brook Run hospital and nursing home that were formerly used to treat mentally ill patients. In January 2001, DeKalb County awarded a $150,000 grant to the Dunwoody Preservation Trust to develop a master plan for the property. Later the county committed $11.5 million in park bond revenue for improvements to the park. The neighborhood and county park officials disagree over whether the community was involved in plans for the park.
About 30 community members protested on June 13 the county’s plans to operate a large new skate park until 10:30 p.m. every night at the park in a residential neighborhood and across from a church. They also complained about the size and noise of the skate park, which is expected to open sometime between June 21 and early July.
John Heneghan, president of the Dunwoody North Civic Association, said the community was also concerned about a lack of security at the 102-acre park, which is patrolled by one contract officer. Other community concerns were a lack of communications from the Parks Department about the fees for the skate park, a lack of benches in the shade at the children’s park, a problem with the creek and the clear cutting of trees on five acres.
State Rep. Fran Millar, DeKalb Commissioner Jeff Rader and Dan Magee from the Parks Citizens Advisory Committee attended the meeting held near the children’s park at Brook Run.
Earlier in the week, Parks Director Marilyn Boyd Drew responded to Dunwoody resident Paul Lowry’s questions about Brook Run, which he had sent her on May 24 after being told he could not raise the questions at a meeting with the parks department.
http://www.dunwoodynorth.org/brookrun/Drew_06112007_Brook_Run.pdf
In her letter dated June 11, Drew said, “Much of the landscape material will be lost due to the final grading plan. The demolition of the hospital and power plant will leave a very deep hole in the ground. The final grade will be resolved by a cut and fill method to reduce the amount of dirt to be hauled into the site. Thus, many of the plants will be destroyed. The abatement/demolition contract was awarded on January 23, 2007 and the notice to proceed was issued with a start date of March 15, 2007. The contracted period is 180 days, and the ending date is September 2007. We will not be placing any orange fencing around the trees as the significant trees are outside of the Construction area.”
“The park plan is being confused with the master plan,” Drew said. “The plan for the skate park was determined with input from the public. Until the design charrette was completed, the plan for the skate park did not exist. The final plan did include a speaker system for managerial control and entertainment. Lights were also part of the final plan, thus the development is following the adopted plan. The construction documents were reviewed and approved by the County's Planning and Development Department and all zoning buffer issues regarding the facility within the park were approved. The building was designed to handle a number of activities for small event rental, as well as food and beverage concessions,” She added, “Hours have not yet been determined.”
Lowry and others are concerned the skate park will become a regional attraction in their neighborhood.
In response to Lowry’s question about marketing plans for the skate park, Drew said in her letter, “The facility will be marketed in the same manner as we do with the swimming pools, recreation centers, golf courses and tennis facilities. We depend on fliers, public service announcements, press releases, DCTV. Citizens of DeKalb County between the ages of 8 and 45 are the target population. We anticipate patrons will come from the metro Atlanta area. The department will recommend resident and non-resident user fees. The actual cost has not been determined. We are not comfortable making predictions on attendance at this time; however, we will implement a managerial plan that is flexible enough to manage the attendance peaks just as we manage them at other Park and Recreation facilities.”
Lowry asked the Parks Department about future plans for more tree cutting in the park.
Drew responded, “We do not have plans at this time to fell additional trees, other than to remove those that may pose safety concerns; e.g., severely leaning, dead or diseased trees. The trees you mentioned that are flagged may have been the result of survey crews marking the location of trees for their engineered site survey plans. We will investigate further to confirm. Flagging will be removed by the end of June.”
“What is the plan for the maintenance facility and equipment space requirements?” Lowry asked park officials. “There are many trucks, equipment and material now stored in the park on hard courts, parking lots, fields, etc. There has been much trash including broken beer bottles in that area.”
Drew replied, “The plan is to continue to operate the North area maintenance facility at Brook Run. We are investigating options for screening the equipment from view by path users in other areas of the park. Debris found in and around the maintenance facility will be removed daily.”
In response to Lowry’s question about plans for walking trails, Drew said, “Walking trails in the park remains a high priority. We will determine the exact layout at a later date.”
Regarding security and public safety at the park, Drew said, “Security has and will continue to be addressed by a Security Guard, currently assigned 24 hours a day, seven days a week as well as the North Precinct, which patrols Brook Run as part of their overall community policing program. Parks and Recreation has met on-site with staff from the North Precinct relative to the upcoming opening of the Skate Park to familiarize them with the facility and to request input from them on overall park and facility security. Adjustments will be made as deemed necessary.”
Lowry also asked Drew about trash pick-up in the park along Peeler Road.
“Additional trash receptacles will be placed in the park by the end of June,” Drew responded. “Trash pick-up along the perimeter of the park will take place weekly. Maintenance of the right-of-way along Peeler Road is the responsibility of the Sanitation Department. We will contact Sanitation to initiate a coordinated effort to maintain the area.”
Lowry asked about some walking trails next to the dog park being fenced off and the dog park being moved due to complaints about the barking.
Drew replied, “The department was made to leave the area closed as walkers with dogs on a leash continued to use the trail and the dogs in the homes continued to bark. This area will remain fenced off. Walkers will have to exit that leg of the trail at the dog park and utilize the sidewalks along the roadway.”
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