Dunwoody Gets Parks

Both the Georgia House and Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that will transfer the parks within the city limits of Dunwoody from Dekalb County to the city. This is a major victory for Dunwoody, as it will soon take possession, and more importantly control, of the parks. For more on the parks, read the latest blog from Councilman John Heneghan.

Below are the updates that went out late last night from Councilmen Denis Shortal and Robert Wittenstein, starting with Robert's thoughts.

Dear Dunwoody Friends and Neighbors,
I don't usually use my monthly e-mail to distribute news flashes, but today I'm going to make an exception.
Today the Georgia House and the Georgia Senate passed identical bills establishing the conditions under which we can purchase the parks located in Dunwoody from DeKalb County.
The price is $100 per acre which is a token sum that fully recognizes all the years of taxes paid by Dunwoody residents for parks acquisition and capital improvements. The ownership of the parks properties will transfer to the city on the signature of the Governor.

Included in the arrangement are Brook Run, The Dunwoody Nature Center, The Spruill Center for the Arts/North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center, the Donaldson-Chesnut farm at Chamblee-Dunwoody and Vermack, the two baseball fields at Dunwoody Park (Dunwoody Senior Baseball's home) and a number of other smaller properties. We will also assume ownership of the land the fire stations and DeKalb Police precinct sit on and will lease those properties back to the county for a token amount.
The bill passed by the legislature also has provisions that should ensure that the bond money earmarked for Brook Run will be spent at Brook Run. We will probably have to go through a court process with the county before payment, but we should eventually get $6-7 million for capital improvements at Brook Run.

This is a huge victory for the city. I firmly believe that a city cannot thrive while its parks languish.
It is also a major responsibility. We must now work to reverse years of neglect and underfunding. As with the roads, we will want to do more than will be practical in one or two years. A revised master plan for Brook Run that provides lots of opportunity for community input should be high on our to-do list.
A lot of people worked very hard to ensure this outcome. We owe Senator Dan Weber and Representative Fran Millar a tremendous thank you for their efforts. The city staff, the mayor and the members of the city council all played important roles but it would be negligent not to single out Councilman Tom Taylor for the hundreds of hours he put into this effort as our legislative point-person.
This is truly cause for celebration. Congratulations Dunwoody!

Regards,
Robert

Fellow Citizens ... Three items of much interest tonight:

1. Parks ..... There is positive news tonight .... "The mighty Casey did NOT strike out" .... After a long drawn out struggle in our quest to gain control of all of the parks located within Dunwoody and the three fire stations located in Dunwoody we have had success. Our legislation, passing ownership of the above assets to Dunwoody for a nominal price (and in my opinion a fair price), passed the GA Senate earlier today and just passed the GA House at about 9 PM tonight. All that now needs to be done is to have the Governor sign the bill. The price is $100/acre and $5000 / facility ... the exception are the two fire stations that serve Dunwoody and also unincorporated DeKalb County. For those two facilities we will pay a percentage of the assessed value with the percentage being the percentage of use outside the city of Dunwoody. Our thanks tonight goes out to Sen Dan Weber, Councilman Tom Taylor, City Attorney Brian Anderson, Representative Wendell Willard, Representative Fran Millar, our lobbyist team of Sam Choute, Clint Austin and Tony Simon, to the members of our city staff and to all those citizens of Dunwoody who have stood with us with unwavering support through this entire process and I also thank God for leading us with his guiding hand. There is much to be done with gaining control of the parks and facilities ........ but for now lets us all stop and cherish the events of today.

2. Dunwoody Nature Center (DNC) ... A repeat of my last update ... this Saturday - 24 APR - is Earth Day and we will celebrate by having a work session at the DNC from 9 AM to 11 AM. So bring you work gloves, rake, shovel, etc in enhancing what is soon to be YOUR DNC. The response from my earlier update has not been as good as we expected. Remember things won't get done unless you are there ... see you there at 9 AM.

3. Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce (DCC) .... The DCC is also celebrating Earth Day this Sat - 24 APR - from 12 PM to 4 PM at the DCC building on Chamblee Dunwoody RD in the Dunwoody Village. Stop by to say hello!
That is all for tonight as it is well passed my bed time. Please pass this on to your friends and neighbors. My sincere thanks to all of you for your involvement and support in our continuing effort to make Dunwoody a place we are proud to call home.

Denny Shortal, Dunwoody City Councilman, District One, Post-1, Mayor Pro Tem