Sandy Springs residents shared how they want to see the 25-acre Old Riverside parkland developed during a community meeting held on June 6.
Aaron St. Pierre, a vice president with the city’s consultant, Lose Design of Lawrenceville, said the site was designated as parkland when it became city property.
“We’re going through a public input process right now more to gauge the community input as to what the community would like to have here,” he said.
The consultants will check code compliance and requirements of the Metropolitan River Protection Act to determine what is possible to do on the site. Plans will be developed to bring to the mayor and city council a vision for the development of the park, he said.
Low intensity, passive uses were favored by residents. Native plantings and a river overlook were among the passive features that residents liked at the meeting. The community has until June 27 to submit comments on the park, which can be made at spr.gs/riverside.
Sandy Springs resident Karen Meinzen McEnerny – a former City Council member – said she has been involved with the property and on a task force for it since before Sandy Springs incorporated.
“I just want to get it open for the public,” she said. “A low intensity-use such as Big Trees Forest Preserve would be wonderful.”
The parkland is located in Council District 3, near the intersection of Old Riverside Drive and Riverside Drive and behind the Riverside Club. That puts it close enough for Council District 6 residents to access it, who only have the Grace Park pocket park in their part of the city south of I-285, Meinzen McEnerny said.
St. Pierre answered residents’ questions before they began showing how they wanted the park to develop. First up was a question about the pump station on the site.
“As far as we know right now, the pump station is still fully operational, and they still plan on maintaining it that way,” he said.
That means park access must be maintained for the maintenance and operations of the pump station and the park, he said.
Off-street parking would be planned if any is added. Any parking will eat up the available disturbance area which is limited by the Metropolitan River Protection Act and city code requirements, such as buffer zones.
Another resident asked what sidewalk access was being planned. Community members like to walk in the neighborhood but crossing Riverside Drive can be unsafe, they said.
St. Pierre said at least two, and possibly three access points, could be developed with a sidewalk that would get visitors into the park and still meet the American Disabilities Act (ADA) criteria.
Aside from a potential small pavilion, any pervious surfaces at the park would allow water to flow through them, which reduces the impact of stormwater runoff. Some kind of detention pond will need to be created for the park, and by using pervious pavers, its size may be reduced, he said.
