When presented with a plan to renovate neighborhood parks in Columbus and Lowndes County, residents Thursday expressed concerns of not having enough space in community centers and their included kitchens.
“This is an exciting time for parks and recreation, the city and county,” Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority Executive Director Roger Short said, thanking taxpayers, the Lowndes Board of Supervisors, the Columbus City Council and the CLRA board for helping make the parks plan possible, before turning the meeting over to City Engineer Kevin Stafford.
Stafford, an engineer with Neel-Schaffer Inc., briefed the assembled audience of about 50, including city and county officials, on improvements planned for community centers in Sim Scott Park, Townsend Park, New Hope and Anderson Grove, as well as renovations to East Columbus Gym and a basketball pavilion at Townsend Park.
All the community centers, which officials hope will be “part of the neighborhood,” will be 4,500 square feet, Stafford noted.
Each new center will feature a brick veneer facade and metal siding, with exteriors to match the existing Sandfield Community Center.
Additionally, they will have exterior flood lights, and the interiors will boast 9-foot ceilings and six windows.
Also, the new community centers each will have a 2,679-square-foot multi-purpose area, two 285-square-foot “breakout” rooms, a 129-square-foot storage room, a 48-square-foot office room, new restrooms, an electric drinking fountain and a 114-square-foot “fully equipped kitchenette” with a stove, refrigerator, sink and “pass-through door,” Stafford said.
A concrete sidewalk will be installed near the new Anderson Grove center, which is to be located off Anderson Grove Road near an existing baseball field, asphalt walking track and gravel parking lot.
Stafford said the parking lot will remain as a gravel lot for maintenance reasons, though it could be paved in the future.
The New Hope community center will be constructed on a three-acre tract of land off Stadium Road, with a paved parking lot and a new concrete sidewalk.
Additionally, the New Hope property will feature “room for expansion,” Stafford noted.
The Sim Scott community center will be built on the site of the facility formerly occupied by the Boys and Girls Club; the club facility will be demolished and the new community center will have a paved parking lot.
The old Charles Brown gym will be demolished and a Townsend Park community center will be constructed in the location, off Ninth Avenue South, along with an asphalt parking lot and outdoor basketball pavilion, which will have a high-school regulation court and two non-regulation side courts, Stafford said, noting the pavilion also will have a metal building frame with a roof and partial siding on all four sides “for bad weather.”
Additionally, the plan calls for the interior of the East Columbus Gym to be “totally renovated,” with new flooring of a rubber and synthetic material which is “easier on the joints,” Stafford explained.
The 7,560-square-foot facility will house a volleyball court, two shuffleboard courts and a high school regulation-size basketball court, as well as new restrooms and storage space.
The gym also will have new heating units, repaired lighting and a paved parking lot.
The public comment period, permitting and final design phases for the project are expected to conclude at the end of September.
The advertising, bidding and contracting process likely will be finished at the end of November and construction, which likely will take six months, is expected to be complete by the end of May 2011.
After the meeting, residents viewed designs and layout proposals for each of the new buildings and left comments.
Public input
“It”s a small building,” Albert Glenn said of the proposal for the Anderson Grove community center, near where he lives. “Maybe it should be a little larger.”
Glenn also agreed with comments made, during the meeting, by District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks, who suggested the centers have larger amounts of space allotted for kitchens.
“When you start doing family reunions, the kitchen becomes important,” Brooks said. “They need a little flexibility in those kitchens.”
“It seems like they should have exit doors at the sides of the building,” Glenn added.
Willie Shaw, a resident near where the Anderson Grove facility will be constructed, said he liked the plans for the new center.
“Not really,” he responded, when asked if he wanted to suggest any changes.
“I don”t like (the plans),” said Arthur Greer, a resident who would use the Anderson Grove facility. “All we”re going to get is one building, with no parking, except the rocks already there.”
“It doesn”t make sense to have a gunshot building,” said Lillie Glenn, Albert Glenn”s wife.
“I think the plan is good,” said Aliza Lewis, who was interested in the demolition of the Charles Brown Gym and construction of the new Townsend Park community center. “We just want it up. I think they”re doing a very good job. I think it”s very good for our neighborhood.”
“I just pray it”ll be large enough,” Dorothy Hubbard said of the Townsend Park facility.
By the numbers
The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors earlier voted to commit $850,000 to a $1.7 million plan to renovate neighborhood parks; the Columbus City Council also committed $850,000 to the plan.
The approved parks plan called for $390,000 to be spent in Townsend Park to demolish the Charles Brown Gym and build a community center, for $290,000 to be spent in Sim Scott Park to demolish the old Boys and Girls Club building and construct a community building, and for $120,000 to be spent to renovate the East Columbus gym and pave the parking area.
Additionally, $30,000 will be spent to construct a 600-square-foot open-air pavilion and half-mile asphalt walking track at Northaven Woods Park; $265,000 will be spent to construct a community center at Anderson Grove Park; $100,000 will be spent for land acquisition for future recreation expansion in Caledonia; and $290,000 will be spent to purchase property and construct a community center in New Hope.
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