First, the good news: Bishop Park is getting a new pool to replace its current one, which is 46 years old and leaking. The bad news, though, is that the pool will be closed during construction this summer; however, other city pools will open on Memorial Day weekend.
The new pool is just one of many improvements Athens-Clarke County is making to local parks as part of SPLOST 2020, the continuation of a 1% sales tax for capital projects. Part of the $5 million allocated to Bishop Park will also go toward a pool house, a more inclusive playground and better pedestrian access to the park from Hawthorne Avenue.
Memorial Park, in the words of ACC Commissioner Allison Wright, has been “loved to death,” and it, too, is getting a facelift. The park’s popular duck pond had to be dredged in 2015, then the dam failed in 2018. “There’s really no water left in [the forebay and upper pond] at all,” SPLOST project manager Diana Jackson told the commission at a work session last month.
A $5.9 million project will solve the pond’s sedimentation problem, as well as pay for a new driveway—potentially a two-way cul-de-sac rather than a one-way loop—amenities like a new playground and picnic tables, and perhaps a sidewalk along Gran Ellen Drive. The dog park is expected to close this summer for improvements. A separate $5.3 million project includes a new reptile house and other facilities at Bear Hollow Zoo.
For the Holland Youth Sports Complex, $5 million is earmarked for new or refurbished scoring stands, bleachers, concession stands, scoreboards, fencing, sidewalks, irrigation systems, trails, restrooms and more, including a new soccer pitch and pavilion.
Another $4.3 million will go toward building out the Beech Haven property—off Atlanta Highway where it crosses the Middle Oconee River—with a bridge over the river, trails, boardwalks, restrooms, access points to surrounding neighborhoods and renovations to a historic house on the land, formerly owned by the Rowland family. $2.9 million is set aside for another nature preserve, Tallassee Forest, which is also getting parking, trails, signage and such, along with educational and adventure areas for children.
Sandy Creek Nature Center will receive $308,000 for infrastructure upgrades and modernizing exhibits. And $1.8 million is budgeted to buy land for a new park on the Westside, likely somewhere off Atlanta Highway outside the Loop.
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