by Jim Martin
james.martin@me.gatech.edu
On May 29 th a group of us met to discuss plans for the new Berkeley Park park. One of the things that we were able to agree on at this meeting is the need to package our plans in a broader context that will make the enterprise attractive to sponsors outside of our neighborhood and to assemble a plan for the park before we pursue funding to support it. We agreed that this context should be the Berkeley Park greenway outlined in the June 2006 BPNA newsletter (http://www.berkeleypark.org/newsletters/2006/6_06/6_06.htm) since this is the only park plan involving the Whites' property at Antone and Forrest that has been put forward. One of the advantages of placing the park in the context of this plan is that it provides a pedestrian connection, traffic calming, and storm water management rather than only green/recreational space. Another advantage is that it addresses the adjoining infrastructure of the Beltline and fits into the long range plans put forward for the Beltline transit corridor. A third is that it effectively increases the area of what would otherwise be a very small park by including disused or publicly owned land and by providing a connection to larger nearby parks (one existing and one planned). These features should make the plan more marketable than it would have been as a park alone. When this plan was originally presented, there was quite a bit of confusion surrounding exactly what it was and why it was being described in the newsletter. This was because a draft of the plan, which was not intended for widespread distribution, was inadvertently included in the newsletter after a miscommunication between Andrew and me.
It is not reasonable to expect the entire corridor outlined for the greenway to be developed at one time. Certain segments will have to wait for the redevelopment of adjoining privately owned land. Other segments will have to wait for the development of the Beltline. Developing a portion of the greenway now should provide a catalyst for the future development of the entire project and give Berkeley Park a lovely neighborhood park to enjoy while we are waiting for the rest of the project to come together. The park at the corner of Forrest Way and Antone ( Dale White Park ) would be part of phase one of the greenway project. This phase could also include the partial abandonment and reclamation of Forrest Way for green space and the installation of traffic calming features on Antone St at the park. Phase two of the project would connect through to Buchanan St. and along Buchanan to Bellemeade. This would require considerable cooperation from the owners of the apartment complex, but should serve their business interests once they have committed to a plan for the future use of the site. Phase 3 would connect through to the Kroger parking lot. This will have to wait for the dedication of the driveway as a public street. The current owners of the property are dragging their feet on this for reasons that have not been made clear. Phase four would connect through the parking lot out to Howell Mill Rd. This will require substantial cooperation from the owners of the Kroger site and may need to wait for it to be redeveloped. Phase 5 would involve one of the two park connections at the end of the greenway. The connection to Underwood Hills park would need to be delayed until redevelopment along Howell Mill Rd could insure that it would not function as a conduit for vagrants. The connection to the new Waterworks Park would have to wait for that park to be developed.
There was some confusion when the plan was first presented about what form an abandonment of Forrest Way might take. That road segment does not provide a needed vehicular connection between Antone and Berkeley since these roads intersect to the east of Forrest Way and are connected by Bowen to the west. Forrest Way does serve the carports of the three houses with frontage on the road, and this function would need to be preserved if the road were abandoned. Six different schemes are outlined in the figure below that would preserve this function while reclaiming substantial green space for the attached park which is drawn as including both of the Whites' properties. These are by no means the only possible ways in which the abandonment might be configured and are only provided as illustrations of the feasibility of the basic concept. Any abandonment would have to be endorsed by all of the adjoining property owners and by the neighborhood and the NPU in order to take place. It would also require support and assistance from several city departments, most notably Public Works and Parks. It is not something that can or should be undertaken if it is objectionable to anyone who will be affected by it.
In parts A and D of this figure Forrest is shown as a cul-de-sac accessible from either Antone or Berkeley. In B,C, and E it is converted into a one way street where the choice of direction is arbitrary. In F it is split into a pair of private drives separated by unbroken greenspace. In all of the configurations a bulbout is shown to slow traffic on Antone while adding to the total green space and narrowing the pedestrian crossing that would be needed to support phase 2 of the project. A second bulbout on the opposite side of the street could be built as a part of phase 2 in order to create a chicane that would further slow traffic on Antone. In some of these configurations the workability of the concept could be further enhanced if a land-swap could be agreed to between the city and one of the adjoining property owners that would shift the privately owned property used for parking closer to either Berkeley or Antone in order to shorten the roadway that connects to it. We will be discussing all of this and more at the BPNA meeting on June 18 th .
