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COMMUNITY
Murphey Candler Park plan praised for big ideas
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
JOHN RUCH
The draft master plan for Murphey Candler
Park includes a pedestrian boardwalk
running alongside the park’s lake.
If the reception from Murphey Can
dler Park advocates is a sign, the city’s site-
specific master plans for 10 Brookhaven
parks will be a hit with the community.
“Fantastic” and “incredible” were
words the 30-member audience used to
describe the draft master plan for Mur
phey Candler unveiled by planning firm
GreenbergFarrow at a Dec. 5 meeting at
the Lynwood Community Center.
Two other draft park plans were pre
sented that day as well, and the rest were
unveiled at other meetings, with a final
one soliciting general park system com
ments on Dec. 12 at the Briarwood Com
munity Center. Finsihed plans go the City
Council in January.
GreenbergFarrow senior project man
ager Liz Cole said the plans likely won’t
be posted online until after the final pub
lic meeting, if at all. The city released the
plans Dec. 9 in response to a Reporter
Newspapers public records request. They
can be viewed at ReporterNewspapers.net.
Major changes proposed to Murphey
Candler drew applause, including a new
community center, a boat house, and a
new multi-use path and boardwalk cir
cling the lake. However, those would be
years away, if the city can afford them at
all, said Cole and Mayor Rebecca Chase
Williams, who counseled patience.
“You’re looking at a long-range plan,”
Cole said, adding that the final plans will
include cost estimates that the city can use
to set construction phasing priorities.
“Of course, our wish list is going to be
well beyond what the city can afford,” at
least all at once, Williams said.
However, Cole said, there is basic
groundwork the city can start next year,
such as creating uniform signage. Even
more basic: conducting land surveys and
tree inventories. That hasn’t been done
since DeKalb County operated the parks
before Brookhaven’s 2012 founding. Tech
nical information—including utility loca
tions and even park boundaries—is out of
date and possibly inaccurate, Cole said.
In short, improving Brookhaven’s parks
will be a step-by-step process taking many
years and millions of dollars. But enthu
siasm was expressed at the meeting for
beginning those steps. Parks have been a
main asset and planning focus of the city.
Other parks getting site-specific master
plans include Ashford, Blackburn, Briar-
wood, Brookhaven, Clack’s Corner, Fern-
wood, Georgia Hills, Lynwood and Sky-
land. Their draft master plans came out of
various public and “stakeholder” meetings.
At the Dec. 5 meeting about Murphey
Candler, audience mem
bers praised both the plan’s
content and Greenberg-
Farrow’s process, which in
cluded asking each person
in attendance to voice their
opinion and ask questions.
“I think this is brilliant,”
one attendee said.
“I’m kind of impressed
how [Cole has] negotiat
ed the Middle East peace
accords and gotten con
sensus,” Williams joked
about how the plan draws
together the park’s many
different users. “This is a
tough crowd.”
“It’s a really good plan,”
said David Axelson, presi
dent of the Murphey Candler Girls Soft-
ball Association.
Built around a lake on West Nancy
Creek Drive, Murphey Candler is a com
plex park with many different uses, in
cluding paths, a swimming pool and more
than a dozen baseball and softball dia
monds. The draft master plan by Green
bergFarrow and landscape architect Mack
Cain tackles both active and passive uses in
ways large and small.
The park is notorious for dangerous
traffic and parking problems. A drop-off
spot for sports-playing kids is one im
provement. All parking would be recon
figured to provide safer pedestrian access
and more spaces. Some of the park
ing expansion would be done by plac
ing gravel lots among trees rather than
clear-cutting and paving. “It’s not your
traditional Kroger [or] Walmart parking
lot...A campground is what it ends up
looking like,” Cole said.
A walking and biking path around the
lake would include a boardwalk alongside
the road atop the lake’s dam. The scout
building on the park’s west side would be
preserved, but relocated, and possibly used
for a restaurant.
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2 | DEC. 11—DEC.24,2015 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
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