New park will fix environmental slip

Months after illegally clearing plants along the Chattahoochee River, Sandy Springs is about to make things right, and then some.

The state Environmental Protection Division sent the city a notice of violation in March for removing wisteria and bamboo from a 5-acre stretch of land along the river. City officials said they removed only invasive plants, and even then, as part of a bigger plan to create a new municipal park.

Construction of the park is slated to begin in mid-July. And it will include the planting of new river birch, tulip poplar, black willows, wax myrtle and several other types of native trees, shrubs and grasses.

“Really, the goal of this is to get the area not looking landscaped but back to its more natural landscape,” said Blake Dettwiler, the city’s assistant director of land development. “There will be a restoration of that area.”

Sandy Springs initially planned a dog park for the parcel, which officials describe as having been so overrun with invasive plants that it choked all of the trees.

The vista after crews cleared the land by hand was so stunning that the city revised its plans to make the larger Overlook Park.

The EPD, though, directed the city to include a plan to restore the buffer it had removed, to prevent riverbank erosion. The agency didn’t set a timeline but approved including restoration plans in the creation of the park.

“They are going in the direction we have pointed them in, oh-so-politely,” said Bert Langley, manager of the environmental agency’s mountain district.

The city has also taken steps to avoid similar problems in the future. Officials believed that they could clear the land because the city had the right to issue a permit for the work. Last week, however, Sandy Springs updated a deal with the state Soil and Water Conservation District-Fulton County. Now the district will review all city-sponsored projects and issue the permits.

“It’s another check and balance, and is probably a good one at this point,” Langley said.

Bids are due June 8 for the park construction. Other features of the project include a playground, picnic pavilion and storage shed for personal watercraft. A dock already juts into the water for use by canoeists and kayakers.