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.. ~ · ,·' ' ,.,; •• ~ ~ "• l ' I ... .: I I CITY OF ATLANTA DEPARTMENT of PARKS Office of General Manager Atlanta, Georgia 30303 July 19, 1967 ' JACK C. DELIUS GENER,AL MANAGER I -1 Mr. Charles L. Davis Comptroller City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Dear Charles: I Thank you for your letter . of July 13, 1967, advising us that the Finance Committee on July 12, 1967, had discussed the problem of financing additional parks and improvenents1 and, more particularly reference to the additional State Grant funds by which the Finance Committee desires to make some portion available to the Parks Department for additional park sites, etc. I have called together all of our staff members concerned with park developrrent and acquisition to very carefully review priorities on park projects. At the same time, we considered the City's committment towards the purchase of four urban renewal park sites located in various areas of the City. After we completed the attached priority li s t, we revie we d it with Chairman Leftwich on July 17, 1967. Mr. Leftwich has given h i s endorsement to the attached proposed disbursement of funds. Thi s entire priority list is based on the fact that we would receive some $350,000 from the State grant . As an expl ana tion to you and by c opy o f th is letter an explanation to the oth er members of t he Ald e rmanic Parks Commi ttee, I wou ld like to explain t o you jus t how we arrived at priorities. First of all; Peyton Road is the only one of the four t e e n parks purchased s ince 1964 which we have no t allocated a ny funds for the development o f or have not act ua l ly b orken · ground. In the case of Daniel Stunton Park Site (People's Town ) , we have under construc tion t the presenttime a recre ation building and a modest amount of mo n e y qas been set aside for storm drainage in the park. However, (Cont'd) rii°i-r?ol '.<, OP'r ..... - f, A><ERo\ ~CO P Y) - - ___.I ..... - - - - -- ~ RO I } r- o ,-• v"""- �', Mr. Davis Page Two July 19, 1967 this will be a case where we will have a completed recreation building and yet the land immediately surrounding it, etc., will not be usable. We built the park "backward" only because of an existing sub-station structure which could be remodeled into a gymnasium and we felt that having indoor facilities for yearround use took priority over basic site development of the park. In the case of Harper Park, we would like very much to do the second stage and this would virtually finish this facility except for a large project such as possibly a recreation building. In the case of Gun Club, we are not deviating from our announced and formal policy of building only neighborhood size pools since Gun Club is a community size park - the only one purchased under the 1963 Bond Issue. Some 3900 children live immediately adjacent to this park site and we have laready installed parking, electrical condiut, sewerage, water supply, etc., as well as lighting (general) for the s,;imming pool. If we move rapidly, Stan Martin feels that one-half the cost ot the swimming pool could be obtained under the Land and Water Conservation Act. As to Center Hill, located on Bankhead Highway, this was at one time a fairly well developed park which fell into disuse and now that the population has surged we feel that we must use a modest amount of our money renovating this facility. It is good level land in an area deficient of parks and we feel like moving very quickly on it. As to Benteen, we are under contract for phase one, which will cover only basic siting and improvements and when we finish this you can hardly tell that anything has been done - it will all be under ground. Therefore, we feel like moving very rapidly into phase two so that the citizens can have something to use. Thomasville Urban Renewal Park is unusual in that we have already gone through phase one and are starting phase two and yet have very little to show the public. It's another case of a lot of money being spent underground to handle drainage, etc. We feel however, that the modest additional expenditure of $15,000 would virtually complete the park except for a swimming pool or recreation center. As ot items 8,9,10, & 11, you have advised me of what you compute the total cost to be and the fact that the City has formerly committed itself to purchasing these lands within urban renewal projects. The entire priority list, including the purchase of new park lands, is based on the assumption that the City will get 50¾ assistance from the Federal government either u nder the open-space program or the Land and Water Conservation Act. We still have a considerable nUmber of parks which we should move into on phase two such as Benteen, Cleveland, Collier, the

f unding of Field Road when it's purchased, Shady Valley, Waters,

recreation buildings for Washington, Butler, University, Wilson Mill, Wesley, etc. Mr. Leftwich has asked that in the next few days we have a ca lled meeting of the Parks Committee to formally endorse this priority list and I assume that yQu will be reviewing the same ~ (Cont'd) XE RO t / XE~-~ ""' C OPY - . ropy~ fc-o,-• XCRO • . Y �,.. __ I ,_I Mr. Davis Page Three 1 July 19, 1967 with your committee. We are deeply indebted to the City Finance Committee for making available these additional funds and assuring you of our appreciation I am ack c. Delius eneral Manager of arks and Recreation JCD:lg CC: Mr. George Berry, Comptroller's Office All members of the Aldermanic Parks Committee Hon. Ivan Allen, Jr. · 1 ~ - - ~ -- --.- ~""'F- ""·.. , -· f:x E R01 / C" n ,•v �