At an open forum held Feb. 8 at Dunwoody City Hall by the PATH Foundation, the organization charged with providing a plan to grow the trail system in the city, attendees were asked where their priorities lie. According to most of the crowd, the answer was “not in my backyard.”
The open forum quickly turned into a complaint session, with speakers bringing forth grievances about various elements of the plan. Most attendees complained about the proximity of trails to their back yards, the disruption the construction would cause, and even questioned the need for connectivity altogether.
Even before that, as PATH executive director Greta deMayo was presenting an overview of the benefits of connectivity and the various types of trails, attendees interrupted her and spoke loudly in groups in the back of the room or from their seats.
When deMayo asked where residents wanted to start, one person shouted, “How can we get you to stop?”
That tone prevailed as speakers from Stephens Walk and other neighborhoods continued to question the location of a proposed 10-foot trail on Tilly Mill Road. One of the first renditions of the plan had it located on the west side of Tilly Mill, and in later drafts, it was moved to the east side. Residents claim that the construction would result in a loss of 300 trees and cost significantly more.
deMayo and others, including Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch, tried to steer the conversation back to the stated purpose of the meeting, to discuss where residents want connectivity, but the crowd continued to hammer away at the elements of the proposed paths, saying that the disruption of installing them far outweighed its benefits.
“This would have been a great idea about 35 or 40 years ago,” said Clark Glenn, a North Springs resident. “With the (proposed) trail being built behind my house, I worry about the privacy we would lose.”
Only one resident expressed a preference for trail connectivity, saying that connecting Dunwoody Village with the western part of the city would be a good pilot project.
After the meeting, Deutsch said she and the council are “fully aware” of the concerns of residents about the location of the trails but stressed that the purpose of the meeting was to talk about where connectivity was needed, not where it was not wanted.
“We want to hear from people about where to start,” she said.
deMayo said the PATH Foundation will continue to gather feedback until Feb. 22 and present a draft plan to the council in April. Work could potentially begin on a pilot project in the summer.
