Preservation top priority in revised Bullard land plan

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Friday, July 24, 2009, by Ashley Hungerford, MDJ staff writer

WEST COBB - The revised master plan for the Bullard-Stockton property includes nature trails, open fields and as little paved surface as possible.

"The first plan tried to make something of the property. This plan accentuates what's already there while preserving the essence of what Bullard means to the community," said Paul Paulson, a west Cobb resident and member of the stakeholder group that helped create the revised plan.

More than 120 people gathered at the West Cobb Senior Center off Dallas Highway on Thursday evening to review and comment on the revised plan for the Bullard-Stockton Property at the corner of Dallas Highway and Old Hamilton Road.

Bob Ash, Cobb public services director, said the plan will likely go before the county's recreation board in August for approval, and the Board of Commissioners will vote on a final plan around September.

The public can submit comments on the plan to the county at prca.cobbcountyga.gov.

Cobb County purchased the 112-acre tract at the corner of Dallas Highway and Old Hamilton Road using $18.6 million of the $40 million parks bond approved by voters in 2006. This property is the first land purchased with the parks bond to undergo the master planning process.

In June, the county added to the parkland by purchasing the 13.75-acre Swing Time driving range on Old Hamilton Road for $1.3 million. The property ties the Bullard-Stockton tract to the neighboring 44-acre Oregon Park, which caters to more than 100 baseball teams and 1,200 players ages 5 to 12. County leaders plan to use this property to provide parking for the Bullard-Stockton tract, while alleviating an already overcrowded parking lot at Oregon Park.

"This plan is a thousand times better than the first plan," west Cobb resident Sue Lake said. "This first plan had over 600 spaces. This one has only about 300 spaces. The previous plan had 12 to 14 different structures. This plan has far less structures and less disturbing of the natural features ... I'm delighted that they're preserving this land, and that they're also preserving the house and barn."

The county conducted a public meeting in March to present the initial master plan developed by Lawrenceville-based Lose and Associates. The group has a $45,000 contract to create a master plan for the property.

That plan included a trail network, several learning areas, educational hands-on play area, a gazebo, bandstand and 600 parking spaces, including a 225-space overflow lot for Oregon Park.

After the March meeting, the county formed a stakeholder group with about 15 interested citizens who were charged with sifting through all the comments gathered by the county on the initial plan and work with Lose and Associates to create something that will work on the land and be beneficial to the community.

Northwest Commissioner Helen Goreham said the goal of the first plan was to elicit public response to hone in on what people wanted in the park.

"It was designed to encourage input from the community," Goreham said. "Tonight, we can see the results for all the citizen input."

The revised plan is primarily passive, with most of the existing natural landscape preserved.

"The end result was what we all started out to do with the parks bond - preservation," said Jim Dugan, a member of the Cobb Parks Coalition and member of the stakeholder committee.

It will likely be a dawn until dusk park so that the addition of lighting would be limited, Ash said.

Almost seven miles of trails are planned for the property including a 10-foot-wide pervious asphalt trail, an 8-foot crushed gravel trail and a 6-foot-wide nature trail.

"As the trail network gets in the more environmentally preserved area it will change to compacted gravel trails and the mulch/dirt paths will be into some of the deeper parts of the property," said Whit Alexander, vice president of Lose and Associates.

The main entrance will be on Old Hamilton Road near Swing Time. Ash said they'd work with county transportation officials to determine the safest place for the entrance as some neighbors have expressed concerns about already existing dangers on Old Hamilton Road such as speeders and limited sight distance.

The main lot will have parking for about 200 cars. There will also be restrooms, a community garden, playgrounds and small picnic area there. A small parking lot will be available off Bob Fleming Road.

The old farmhouse on the property will be restored, and county leaders plan to eventually open it to the public.

As for the timeline of the project, that is extremely dependent on funding. Ash estimates the project is $3.5 million to $4 million.

"It's a hefty sum," Goreham said. "In today's economy, we're looking for every dollar to maintain our existing services."

There is not funding in place to develop the park, although several county leaders have suggested another Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax program that would fund the development of some of the parks purchased using the parks bond. Goreham said the county is also in discussions with forming a "Friends of the Park" group that could assist with fundraising and development of the park.