Decatur High Garden Moving Plots to Sugar Creek Due to Pending Construction; Work Day Saturday

14 thoughts on “Decatur High Garden Moving Plots to Sugar Creek Due to Pending Construction; Work Day Saturday”

1. 
   

2. I knew this was coming but still makes me a little sad. Fond memories of driving our little guys by this and hearing them say, “FARM!”

   Glad it will live on nearby.

   1. Agree that it’s sad. And I think that an on-site garden pulled in high schoolers who otherwise might not have considered working in it. But no question that space is needed for classrooms and other options are limited.

      Love the picture of twin toddlers/preschoolers shouting FARM!

      1. Sadly, the garden will not become classrooms. At least according to the latest designs, it’s slated to become a parking lot. That’s unfortunate, so far as I’m concerned, because Decatur is exactly the kind of place where a parking variance in favor of green space might have actually been viable. Instead, we’re prioritizing the ability for teenagers to drive to school and, as taxpayers, subsidizing them to do so.

         Why not keep the garden at the corner, make the lot half as big, then develop a student parking permit program priced at $40-$60/month to keep use down? It would still be a helluva bargain vs. what downtown parking costs elsewhere.

         1. Why is it sad? It is sad because we are covering life and growth with asphalt and cars. Great lesson to teach high school students. Before someone says, well what is the alternative, maybe we should have asked the students to designed the new buildings, they would have done a better job. I guess more idealistically we could say that we are accommodating more students for more learning, but if you can’t learn outside at your own high school, what are they learning? It is sad.

         2. student parking should be a very, very low priority…

         3. DHS teachers and staff, CSD auxiliary staff, family visitors, and other types of visitors/vendors/volunteers/etc. all need places to park as well.
            I think when you compare the available parking DHS will have, compared to it’s future enrollment and staffing, we’ll see the parking plan is actually very small.

            1. Hey, Greg. Thanks for engaging.

               No dispute that staff, visitors and volunteers should be accommodated. Such accommodation is a factor in recruitment and/or participation, among other things. I get it, and my comments don’t (hopefully) suggest that this is where the fat should be trimmed out.

               Right now, the school has 240 spaces for what looks like around 140 employees total. The full build out indicates 350 spaces. My suggestion was that this number be reduced (by 70 spaces or so?) to allow the corner of Commerce and Howard to remain a (albeit reduced) garden and that this be accomplished not by penalizing staff, visitors and volunteers, but by disincentivizing student driving through paid parking. As a taxpayer, my preference (assuming logistically possible) would be that we prioritize the garden rather than reinforcing the message among our kids that parking is automatically a free commodity. As we head towards a bond vote, there’s no denying that it’s far from free (to the tune of a typical $8,000 a space in an inflated market like Decatur), so 70 spaces can easily add up to half a million dollars.

               Plenty of respect for you and the rest of CSD. I’m not against the master plan, just against excessively coddling teens. 😉 Especially if that involves the community picking up the tab on something discretionary or unnecessarily making our surroundings a bit less livable in terms of the quality of our pedestrian experience.

               1. As a parent, I think student parking spaces are nice, but not essential. DHS is so centrally located that students can walk there. If student parking spaces get tight, they can be reserved for those with physical issues that prevent walking, those with internships that require travel during school hours, and similar situations that require a car.

               2. Thanks for the nice reply Scott.

                  I agree the fewer teens driving to school the better, especially in our small town, and of course there will always be cases where kids really need to use their cars (after school activities, job-study, distance, disability, etc.). The staff is going to grow exponentially as well, and my guess is a fewer percentage will live walking distance to the school. I’m pretty sure that DHS will have some type of plan that prioritizes students that get the privilege to drive/park. Also, as we grow there will also be an increased need for spaces for athletic and performing arts events.

                  I’m a massive fan of community gardens. My wife and I had a plot at the Oakhurst CG many years ago, and I even had my 5th grade class create a pizza garden there when Clairemont was housed at DHS during construction. I believe the (now) Wylde Center is the heart and soul of the south-side of our town.
                  I also love how community gardens that sprout up in abandoned and unusable inner city locations really revitalize neighborhoods.

                  The DHS campus footprint is neither abandoned nor unusable. Every square foot will be used in some way real soon. I think the team there did a nice job carving space for a garden that supports their culinary arts program (with input from many sources) and Mr Maloof told the city commission of roof-top options as well. However, with my school building administrator hat on, I’d rather see community gardens in flood plains and other public areas, not on a school’s property.

                  1. Thanks, Greg. I get that it’s complicated with a lot of competing priorities. It’s this kind of considered back-and-forth that help us all get through it. I appreciate your perspective.

                  2. Although I agree that more parking is going to be needed with growing enrollment and thus the garden is a casualty, I think it is a mistake to try to meet after-hours surge parking needs with on campus spots (think graduation, plays, concerts, athletic events). We definitely should have enough disabled spots, but the county deck is plenty close enough for most people and completely available for these events. If you go to a big public school in the metro like those 3,500 student Gwinnett schools the walk from the outer limits of the parking lots to the front door is far greater than the walk from the county deck to the front door of DHS.

4. Anyone have a plat of the Sugar Creek Garden or know how far into the flood plain area the garden area goes?

6. Where is Sugar Creek?

   1. In Oakhurst, across the street from the dog park.

Comments are closed.