overheadrendering2_resizedBy Joe Earle

The Buckhead Community Improvement District has decided to see what a park over Ga. 400 might look like and how much it would cost to build.overheadrendering2_resized

The CID board voted 4-1 last week to issue a request for proposals for design work and cost estimations on the proposed park.

The decision does not commit the CID, a self-taxing business group, to building the park. But some members still questioned whether the park itself was a project for the CID. “There are definitely members who are not in favor of this, including me,” board member John Lundeen said. “I personally think it is beyond the scope of this board.”

But other members argued that other cities had built similar parks and the CID should at least find out how much such a park would cost in Buckhead. “We’ve got to be at the forefront and at least explore it,” board member John Barton said. “If we don’t do that, I think we’re sticking our heads in the sand.”

Collin Kelley is the executive editor of Atlanta Intown, Georgia Voice, and the Rough Draft newsletter. He has been a journalist for nearly four decades and is also an award-winning poet and novelist.