Harrison Park Looking for Help

The Harrison Park Board came before the City Council Monday night, November 21, requesting financial support for its future.

Kim Humphreys, Chair of the Harrison Park Board, and Scott McBride, Head of Finance Sub-Committee for the Board, presented two requests to the Council supporting the McCutchen Street Park near the Ellijay Primary School. The more pressing of the two requests raised concerns in the council and questions about a Budget Approval for the UGA Charrette for Harrison Park.

The Charrette (by definition a meeting in which all stakeholders in a project attempt to resolve conflicts and map solutions) will come as an agreement between the City of Ellijay and the University of Georgia (UGA) to use engineering students to come and offer designs, plans, and options for improvements to the park. As a part of this, the Harrison Park Board is asking for citizens to offer their thoughts and input on what they want to see in the park so the students could take the ideas to build on. “What we’re asking people to do is prioritize what they want, the kinds of activities they want to participate in out there. That information then gets compiled for the students.” says Humphreys.

A Charrette like this would offer those students real world experience in their field while granting our city their engineering expertise through the University.

With the approval, contract work has begun on the agreement and Ellijay could see students in our park studying and planning in late January or early February. The team, made up of 25 students along with several professors, will take the surveys and are expected to hold a meeting for the community so they may talk about their interpretations of the results and to ask further questions of citizens in attendance.

The meeting will help those involved overcome hurdles and obstacles that could result in renovating the barn, parking, bathrooms, paths, stage location, activities, and possible free events or how to keep a section of the park open along side certain ticketed events. These all depend on the community’s response and what they want according to Humphreys who went on to ask, “What about a dog park? Exercise area? Fishing? Boats? Kayaks? All these questions will come up with students.”

The Charrette approval came with a $15,000 budget item that will be used to cover the $9,000 price for the contract. The extra, according to Humphreys, will cover expenses for travel, lodging, food, work supplies, and other necessities which may not use the all of the leftover $6,000. The request was made to make sure the Board had enough to cover the students trips.

Humphreys also stated that having these students will not only benefit the city by having professional quality work and designs, but will also bring several disciplines together to aid the process. The number of students involved will also add insight into the project as they could ultimately present the Harrison Park Board and the City of Ellijay with 4 plans to deliberate upon.

At that point the City and Board would decide upon the best plan, or a possible combination of plans, to move forward with.

However the Charrette is only a part of the plans for Harrison Park as they hope to move forward in the future with plans to purchase property on North Main St (Old Highway 5) for more parking as well as additional access to the park.

As you can see in the image, also included is a plan to build a proposed extension and walking path along the river to become a 1.5 mile long path.

This involves the second request that came before the council as they approved a Support Resolution for a DNR (Department of Natural Resources) Grant Proposal for the Park. If the Grant is approved, according to Scott McBride, it could culminate up to $100,000.

However, McBride also stated, “If the stars align and we are approved for the total $100,000,” the city would become responsible for a 20% match on the grant. McBride assured the council that while both of these approvals came to a potential total of $35,000, the DNR Grant Match could be made through private donations or “in kind” services.

What that means is the Harrison Park Board could, and reportedly has already begun, garnering private support and donations from people to help the park and could also use volunteer work and “costs” to meet that match.

Bringing the Grant and Charrette (read more by clicking on the image to the left) together will allow the city to break down projects to accomplish over time or to allow organizations to volunteer and donate towards. This could be great projects that certain organizations could fully take over, such as an example of a Veterinary Clinic sponsoring and developing a dog park section. This also allows the City to maintain the “Bigger Picture” to move the overall project forward.

Humphreys and McBride both stated the Charrette Approval would take great strides in helping to gather private donations as people saw the City becoming committed and invested in the success of the local park.

The Board itself is already making progress after hosting a “Clean-up Day” which saw 54 volunteers come out to the park in order to clear a 200 ft section on the river bank.

Humphreys said she has been very proud of her Board of Directors who have already accomplished so much, and continue to push for a very optimistic and bold agenda for their future.