DeKalb Buys Land For Neighborhood Park Near Emory
Decatur Metro | November 11, 2010From the AJC…
This week, the DeKalb County Commission signed an agreement to buy land at 1812 Ridgewood Drive NE in Atlanta for $415,000. The property was listed at $400,000 and the additional $15,000 will cover title search, an environmental assessment and other closing costs, county spokesman Burke Brennan said.
Here’s a map of the location if you’re unfamiliar with the Ridgewood area. If you don’t know much about this area, you might want to take a walk or drive through there some day. With all the hills, valleys and woods back there, it’s a pretty unique and hidden neighborhood.
Oh, and my question of the day: where would you ask your city to build/create a park? (And feel free to unpave a parking lot and put up a paradise)
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The Big H!
I hear your frustration with the Big H but that property is immediately next door to Oakhurst’s second largest park. If city commission laid out major cash for that kind of redundancy, I imagine there’d be hell to pay!
403 E. Ponce De Leon Avenue. Otherwise known as the bizarre, spooky house on the corner of Commerce and Ponce, across from the Methodist Church.
Yep, it would extend greenspace from the cemetery, it would turn an eyesore to a strength, it would be centrally located (a good place to watch fireworks, for example). It would be one more step to linking Glenlake Park to the PATH, and I can’t imagine the tax on it is such that it would cut into revenues too much.
That’s the hoarder’s house, right? Rumor is he’s not exactly crazy, but likes to accumulate stuff, and put it in that house…who knows?
The giant barely used parking lot that AT&T currently occupies behind East Decatur Station. It’s always empty, and a huge waste of space.
I find the layout of Harmony Park to be disharmonious.
could not agree with you more, golazo….steps leading to, umm, nowhere….a large piece of concrete with some kind of metal track (massive head wound waiting to happen)…crumbling ledge..it is the site of 2 great festivals and has incredible potential…would LOVE to see it become more harmonious
What IS that concrete/track thingy? I’ve always started to wonder then gotten distracted….
If I’m reading this right, the concrete slab isn’t part of the park. It’s a remnant of the building next to it and the metal thing is from the auto-lift that used to be in the space (it was a mechanic’s shop).
So, unless the owner is looking to sell, there’s not much the city can do at the moment. But that could of course change at any time…
having pointed out the flaws and generally being against complainers who aren’t willing to do something about which they are complaining, i would be happy to be a part of the beautification/harmonification of the park should such an effort take form.
The condos adjacent to Glenlake Park on the north side of the creek (entrance). There is no buffer between their parking lot and the creek. It would make the park even larger and reclaim developed land with passive park and maybe a new tennis center allowing buffers on both north and south sides of Glenn Creek which is currently tennis courts/pool and the condos. Also open up the springs under the tennis courts for a water feature. My other choice but even more unlikely would be Surbaban Plaza, which by the way also has springs under the parking lot but perhps sprinkle in some condos and retail.
How about turning the two turnaround parking lots at the Square into green space? Sure, parking is not easy to come by in downtown Decatur, but that would really improve the Square.
I second that. I’ve had the same thought many times. How nice would it be it those areas were gorgeous, manicured parks with lots of greenspace for picnics and lounging around. And, it’s really not that much parking. I think at least 10 cars cruise through there for every 1 that actually gets a spot.
My guess it that the idea could never gain real traction, though, because of the perceived lack of parking in Decatur. Business owners would probably go nuts! Maybe it could be combined with a campaign to install easy-to-follow signage and directional maps to the plentiful parking in other, nearby parts of the city.
They might go nuts as you say, but it seems totally irrational to do so. Your aright, the ration of lookers to actual parkers must be 10/1. There aren’t enough spots to keep the restaurants filled even if every parked car brought 4 people to the square. I would be all for getting rid of that parking
How about the Relax Inn property/rubble? It’s hard to develop for residences sitting as close to the tracks as it is. It’s far from many other parks. A nice set of swings and a tricycle trail with some trees and benches would be a wonderful stretch of green in an otherwise continuous slab of concrete along Trinity from Church to College. On summer days, it would be a perfect complement to the DQ!
hear hear!
Narrow Commerce Drive to one wide lane in each direction, with turn lanes where needed, and create a linear park in the center lanes, with trees and other greenery. Those of us who live near that abomination are sick of the smash-em-bang-em speedway, a relic of ’70s urban renewal. There’s an accident or two almost every week at Sycamore and Commerce alone, not to mention other intersections. The older folks in my condo complex are terrified to cross it.
That would be lovely.
I agree. For a city that tries to be walkable, Commerce acts like a moat, protecting the city center from pedestrians.
I think another great place for the city to push for a park will be on part of the Devry property, which has been annexed but is waiting for a developer. That area of the city is completely lacking in parks.
And just this morning: Another big and very loud smash-up on Commerce at Ponce. One of the cars hit a utility pole and took the power down for almost an hour.
On the Bank of America property across from McDonalds. It could be turned into a nice Savannah-esque square that would encourage new pedestrian-friendly development on the surrounding blocks. That BoA building is pretty inefficient use of space considering its central location in the city.
Why is West Ponce from the post office to Scott/Ponce 4 lanes? Road diet please with a big wide, side of green.
Take a trip, PD. That stretch is two lanes now, effective about 2 days ago. Plus bike lanes and on-street parking for all the homes previously road-locked.
Has anyone gone to actually see this piece of property? It is a house lot in the midst of a lot of residences. Very narrow and deep.
I somehow doubt this property will ever be a “park”. I would like to know who owned the property before and all the circumstances of the sale.
Haven’t seen the property, but that’s an awfully steep price for a park. And that neighborhood is quite upscale. An odd choice for parkland, if you ask me.
Wonder if there’s an inside deal there?
Check the property map on this website:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/TaxCommissioner/tc-home.html
1812 owns a huge plot behind the narrow entrance.
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE lot.
The people over at DeKalb Officers Speak aren’t too thrilled with the park purchase.
Read two of the comments toward the end.
“I suspect this ‘public’ park will be like the two other nearest parks and be located inside a block of houses hidden from the public with no public sign or obvious public entrance. Basically picture a ring of private homes with a ‘public park’ hidden in the center of them with each house having a private gate to the park.”
http://dekalbofficersspeak.blogspot.com/2010/11/commissioners-set-to-wast-more-money.html
Jay- Really interesting read.
I had never heard of Emory Grove or Princeton Park before reading that blog.
Just based on very limited amount I read there, it seems like there are some legitimate questions that should be asked but it sounds like it’s a done deal
Yes, very interesting! Hmmmm… if it is a done deal, maybe as helpful citizens, we should see to it that the public access entrance has a visible sign & is kept maintained. That goes for the other “inside a neighborhood” parks as well.