Politics & Government

Alpharetta City Council Pursues New Purpose for Old Park

Union Hill Park's covered hockey rink will be reused for salt and sand storage, with the outdoor rink making way for a future greenway trailhead.

Alpharetta's doesn't attract hockey players anymore, so City Council gave staff the go ahead to pursue plans to convert it into a Public Works storage facility and future greenway trail-head.

Recreation and Parks Director Mike Perry presented the plan to re-purpose the 10-acre park with the help of Pete Sewczwicz, director of Engineering/Public Works, during the May 16 City Council workshop meeting.

"This past season we've not had a youth program. Zero teams, not enough to form a league," Perry said.

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Only 12 to 14 residents were in the four adult teams that formed this spring.

Several years ago 300 children registered for the program, he said. He said some programs go in phases, and what was once viable loses interest for participants.

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Councilman Jim Paine said he and Mayor Arthur Letchas were on council when the hockey rinks first were proposed.

"And it did serve a great purpose for a long time. Things ebb and flow in recreation programs. This one is a casualty of that," Paine said.

Now the small park with its covered and uncovered rinks is becoming an expense. Perry said it's high maintenance, requiring $25,000 to $35,000 to maintain it.

The city's Recreation Commission recommended dropping the hockey program. That leaves the city with options, Perry said. The park could be sold or used for something else.

Some land owners around the park would like the chance to buy the property. But Perry said it's hard to buy parkland in the city anymore, and even harder to get land near the greenway. It would be much easier to hold onto the land than at some point buy other land. This park is on the Forsyth County line at McGinnis Ferry Road, making it a good location for a greenway trail-head.

As for the covered arena, it "doesn't make any sense, I think, to tear it down," Perry said.

It could be used to store materials such as sand or salt to help public works, he said. That department made use of the park last winter during ice storms.

Sewczwicz said a key word in the discussion was salt. The city has no place to store salt at its headquarters. Once the elements hit salt, it gets hard. His department could use the covered rink and put storage bins in it for the salt.

The Windward area has some of the hilliest roads in the city, and the most shaded roads. At present staff must drive out of the public works facility on Hembree Road with fully loaded sand and salt vehicles, which Sewzcwicz said is dangerous and wastes time.

"Certainly I think the city ought to keep the facility," Paine said.

This idea may be the most cost effective use, he said.

Letchas said this sounds like a good idea and asked how soon could it be done. He also asked what makes the cost estimate $200,000 to $300,000.

The first cost would be installing a fence around what would become the materials storage area. Demolition of the uncovered rink would be done, with the space for the greenway trail-head developed.

The consensus of the City Council was to keep moving forward on the proposal.

"Guys, keep pursuing it," said City Administrator Bob Regus.


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