First public meeting on Louise Street Park revamp

The Atlanta City Development Corporation and Board of Directors held their first public meeting to discuss a master plan for the revamping of Louise Street City Park last Thursday at Mattie Lanier Richey Center at 6 p.m.

Miranda Johnson, executive director of ACDC said the meeting was the first of three public meetings where interested parties can come to provide input on the plan and stay informed about the project.

“The Atlanta City Development Corporation budgeted to complete a master plan for the Louise Street City Park, and we are in that process now,” Johnson said. “Our Board of Directors recognized the need for repairs and upgrades, but rather than jumping into pieceby- piece improvements, we thought it would be most responsible to have a clear comprehensive vision for the park that the community could be a part of creating.”

At the meeting Thursday, Johnson warmly welcomed attendees and introduced Rick Leisner, a park planner with Norris Design out of Dallas, who has signed on as project director.

Leisner, a landscape architect, will be joined by other Norris Design visionaries, including Landscape Architect Emily Larkin and Landscape Designer Grant Pasowicz.

Norris Design, Leisner said, will also team up with Civil Engineer Kayla Wood, with MTG Engineers out of Texarkana.

Wood will assist with costing figures, constructability as well as other specific components as the project progresses, Leisner said.

“Today we are really going to be talking about existing conditions and input of what you all want in a reimagined city park; Different concepts, different facilities, and then we talk about how we might be able to phase them in.”

The second public meeting is tentatively slated for June– before the Fourth of July, he said. This meeting is probably the most important to be at, according to Leisner.

“It’s probably the most engaging meeting to be at,” he said. “We will have three different designs for the park–totally different, very unique–and it’s important that you are there so that you can give us input into the likes and dislikes of those different concepts.”

“We take all the information from that (second) meeting and boil it into what is a preferred concept.”

That third meeting, Leisner said, is where they will present the preferred concept to the public to ask if they took the concept in the right direction for a redesign of the park.

“We will even talk about phasing at that third (meeting) for the preferred concept,” he said.

Dates for the next two meetings are to be announced soon.

As for the first meeting, Leisner did a presentation to go over the status and conditions of the park.

“The trees are spectacular,” Leisner said. “The trees in this park are literally just spectacular. You get all this nice shade. Whoever sited the children’s play equipment in this area–it’s in the right location, with abundant shade.”

Accessibility provides a challenge, however, and planners will be looking to get some areas of the park more accessible. The large concrete area will be looked at to see how it can be utilized for sports or other facilities, he said.

“Again the three concepts we will try to utilize some of the areas and the hard surfaces and other concepts we may look at other options,” Leisner said.

Two creeks flow through the property, which Leisner said were nice, with very minimal drainage issues that have been well maintained.

“And, again, the trees,” he said. “Just spectacular trees. We want to make sure they can stay healthy, so we want to try to make sure that certain facilities don’t get too close to some of them. Trails, benches, picnic tables, and maybe a pavilion are all very nice (ideas).”

A historic amphitheater, he said of the brick structure at the helm of the park, actually helps retain the soil with its walls.

Unfortunately, the area is steep and would need some improvement to make it more safe, according to some attendees.

“The whole reason behind the park master plan is that we know the park needs some improvements but instead of going in and doing a random new piece of equipment … we really wanted a comprehensive vision for how we could make the park a really great park,” Johnson said. “We wanted the opportunity to engage the community so we could know what our residents really want, what are the true needs, and then also look at the feasibility and see what can our city manage overtime.”

“What can we build, what can we take care of, what do we want, what do we need,” Johnson said, to sum it up. “That’s why we’re here, looking at some of these ambiguous spaces and trying to get a better total vision for the space” Leisner agreed as they moved the presentation along to talk about culling down a master vision, which Leisner said ultimately seemed would really just need some surgical changes to make a good park a better park.

One point of agreement that everyone seemed to have was the dislike for porta- potties and the desire for a restroom facility.

“On the city park analysis, right now it has two entry points,” Leisner said. “The entry point to the north is not on city property.”

Leisner mentioned how the park has two roads, an upper and a lower road–with the upper road providing access to some nearby residences.

“Do you need both roads,” Leisner said. “I don’t know. Our concepts are going to explore the option…maybe you don’t need both roads.”

The parking experience at the park was described as more natural, which can be nice but could be somewhat of a safety issue with it being uncontrolled as the park becomes more crowded after improvements are made.

A trail system was mentioned as a possibility, especially for parents pushing strollers; The large canopy trees were mentioned as significantly important for the shade they provide and Leisner again praised the two creeks that flow through the park, remarking that only one area needed a little fix– nothing too drastic from an engineering standpoint.

“There’s a wonderful history of this park,” Leisner said. “There were so many big events there that the entire length of the street there would have parking along it.”

“The WPA amphitheater is part of that (historical component),” he said, adding that Louise Street originally changed to four lanes because of the park’s historic popularity.

Some small changes to lighting and signage were mentioned by Leisner to possibly be in need of a small upgrade, though he remarked that the lighting in the park currently is currently pretty nice.

“Friday Saturday and Sunday they would have seed spitting contests, dances, parades, beauty contests,” Leisner said, adding that the park was initially funded or established in 1937 before thanking Marvin Weindorff for sending in interesting historical articles on the park.

Leisner recognized the local school district and lauded the abilities of the children who helped design their own concepts of their ideal park by filling in a space shaped as the park with their three big concepts.

“We’ve never had a client in my 25-plus years that has had such success with the local school district,” he said. “I cannot tell you how pleasant and wonderful this was.”

“Over 250 children have provided us input into this, and Miranda tells me there is even more.”

Johnson said the 250 children were just from the middle school and that the primary and elementary students also participated.

“Just, fabulous,” Leisner said. “Fabulous. Really good input and some really good ideas, too.”

Leisner, Johnson, Mayor James Brooks, and the Park Advisory Committee for the project–which includes City Manager Danica Porter, Shannon Jones, Anna Puckett, Donna Rice, and Randal Wilson–welcomed the public to participate in a survey to help narrow down concept ideas before showing an impressive video made by Atlanta Middle Schoolers that showcased their ideas and input.

To view some of the kiddos’ impressive concept art for the park’s revamp and keep informed on the latest news on Louise Street Park, check out the Website mycitypark- atlantatx.com.

“We hope to see a great turnout for our next two public meetings so the community can express themselves and really take ownership of this master plan,” Johnson said.

The second and third meetings are to be announced soon.