Dunwoody Comprehensive Land Use Community Meeting, Part II

Parks

Currently there is approximately 140 acres of park land here in Dunwoody, most of this is in one place, Brook Run Park. In case you've been living under a rock or somewhere else, Dunwoody does not own Brook Run Park nor the Dunwoody Nature Center. Our frends at DeKalb County still own these tracts of land. I think it will be a while before we own these parks. I could be wrong. Perhaps Councilman Ross or Mayor Wright or even Warren has something in the works. Ask your local council member about buying the parks as I do not know where we stand on negotiations with DeKalb.


I know we need to complete this Comprehensive Land Use Plan soon, but not knowing if we will ever own the parks puts us at a disadvantage when planning. There are a few pieces of undeveloped land in Dunwoody (approximately 95 acres, mainly in three tracts), but Dunwoody will never have the funds to buy any of it. I see no way for us to acquire any new park space within the city limits unless we require green space in new developments. As far as major parks go, we'll have Brook Run, The Nature Center, and Windwood Hollow, and that's it. I think if the city acquires Brook Run and the others, we can make Brook Run one of the finest parks in the state. Of course 70% of the park must remain green space, but that still leaves lots of room for education centers, community gardens, etc. Not sure if I'd keep that skate park. I'm not a big fan of skateboarding now, nor was i growing up. Maybe because I had a gravel driveway growing up.


When discussing parks we talked about what types of parks and recreation centers were wanted in Dunwoody. We took a survey, checking off multiple things. Someone mentioned public tennis courts. I don't think we need more courts. Now that The Branches have lighted courts, we can all go there at night. Plus, a tennis court takes up a lot of space and can be used by only four people at a time; not a good use of rare public space in my opinion. Someone else mentioned the city of Roswell's park program. Roswell (as well as Sandy Springs) has a big arts and parks program, but keep in mind Roswell is two times our size. Roswell has 18 parks and 800 acres of active and passive parkland and facilities. We don't. Dunwoody needs to work on acquiring Brook Run and making it a citywide park with amenities attracting as many residents as possible.

Requiring green space in new developments and redevelopment is a must as well.