Decatur is seeking a firm, partnership, joint venture or team to serve as consultant for facilitating public input sessions in creating a master plan for the 77-acre United Methodist Children’s Home property. Those sessions should begin in January, with a final design completed by next summer.
The city has set Oct. 27 as a deadline for sealed Requests for Proposals.
Part of the consultant’s work includes assessment of the current site conditions, determination of land and building uses. There are 31 buildings on campus, seven built before 1920, plus an intact school, the Whitehead Building, built in 1939.
The sales contract between Decatur and the UMCH stipulates that the city only has to protect the grave of founder Jesse Boring, the existing administrative building and the Moore Chapel, built in 1906.
Total cost for the entire property, on which the city closed in August, is $41,077,000. Purchase of the 22 eastern or rear acres is funded through a loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, administered by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. This tract, which includes a lake and forested area, will remain mostly untouched.
Most of the consultant’s work will focus on the front 55 acres that include playing fields and a gym long coveted by both the city and the school system.
Decatur’s first official project on the property is spending $19,000 on improving two acres of athletics fields with higher quality sod, irrigation and new fencing. Work should begin in January and finish by late spring.
About the Author
