Chalker Park in Kennesaw, once an active neighborhood park, has deteriorated into a state of squalor in recent years, with overgrown weeds and public dumping.
Now Kennesaw leaders plan to trade the park property to developers behind the massive Eastpark Village downtown redevelopment in exchange for land that the city plans to use for infrastructure upgrades. No money will change hands in the swap.
City Council on Tuesday abandoned public use of Chalker Park, voting unanimously to cordon off public access to the property. The park along Poplar Drive once featured playground equipment, a picnic pavilion and a basketball court.
But the slides, swing sets and basketball goals have long been removed. City officials say the park fell into disrepair and residents no longer use it for recreational purposes. Instead, it has became a dumping ground with trash and discarded pieces of furniture scattering the basketball court. Meanwhile, overgrown weeds have sprouted up on the former playground.
Kennesaw officials say the playground & basketball equipment were removed in 2018. According to city spokeswoman Rebecca Graham, the equipment was vandalized several times and frequent flooding at the park caused even more damages to the equipment.
Luke Howe, the city’s director of economic development, said the park is no longer safe and has become a blight on the surrounding neighborhood.
The city plans to swap the 1.3-acre abandoned park property for 1.4 acres of land owned by the Sanctuary Companies about a block south of the park just off Cherokee Street. The Sanctuary Companies and Varden Properties are the main developers behind Eastpark Village, a $280-million, mixed-used project being built on 57 acres in downtown Kennesaw.
Sanctuary intends to incorporate the old park grounds into the Eastpark Village redevelopment. Kennesaw wants to acquire the Cherokee Street property to make street improvements along the road. The transportation project will include road widening, an improved storm system and the addition of sidewalks and a multi-use trail, according to Graham.
The actual land swap has yet to occur. In April, council members voted to swap rights of way with Sanctuary. Kennesaw ceded its right of way for municipal sections of Poplar, Russell, Grant and Roskspring drives. In exchange, Sanctuary gave the city right of way to a portion of Cherokee Street.
On July 1, the city issued a public notice for the proposed property exchange. Mayor Derek Easterling said Tuesday’s resolution, which officially closed the park to the public, was “the first step in the formative exchange of property.”
James Anderson, who lives a half block from Chalker Park, said the park was still being used by the public in 2017 when the city began negotiating the exchange with the Sanctuary Companies. He suggested city officials drove the park into ruin by removing playground equipment and other amenities.
“So the question is either you are horrible at your jobs at protecting these amenities; or you are insinuating here that an act of God took this (park) down into disrepair,” he said. “No, you yourself have taken this down with the sole purpose of exchanging these properties for something else.”
In response to criticism that the plan for the land swap was not shared with the public in advance, Councilman Pat Ferris said the plans had been in the works for four years.
“So it’ certainly not like we’re hiding anything,” he said. “It’s been advertised. Apparently everybody that’s interested in it knows about it. I say let’s move on then.”
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