Residents armed with petitions made a last-ditch plea Monday night to preserve a patch of Dunwoody’s Brook Run Park targeted for a concrete trail.
Opponents of the multi-use trail told City Council members that public sentiment is growing in their favor.
And while debate raged inside, steady rains gave opponents something they lost last week in court: a delay for the heavy equipment that stands ready to clear approximately 250 trees from the park’s inner forest.
The city received the all-clear last week, when a DeKalb County judge lifted a restraining order halting any work. Some 25 homeowners in the nearby Lakeview Oaks subdivision have appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, arguing the trail will increase the risk of flooding to the neighborhood by generating more water runoff.
Their fight has drawn allies. More than 1,100 people have signed petitions to stop the concrete trail.
Naturalists say the cost in forest land is too steep and members of the local tea party object to the $425,000 price tag.
All three groups argue the project has grown into something residents never asked for. Original plans, approved by the City Council in 2011, called for an 8-foot-wide path of asphalt, gravel and wood running 1.3 miles and costing $130,000.
The project is funded in part with a $100,000 state grant.
Many of the dozen or so speakers Monday night read testimonials from residents who signed petitions. Others made their own points.
Barbara Pryor objected to the city’s claims the path must be 12-feet wide and made of concrete to accommodate emergency vehicles and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The act requires only a firm and stable surface, she said, with a width of 36 inches.
“Dunwoody Country Club’s cart path is six feet wide and emergency vehicles and maintenance trucks use it,” she said.
But Travis Reid, one of two who spoke in favor of the trail, said the investment mirrors that of other cities who are on the cutting edge of revitalization.
“Anything that invests in the commons that a city possesses will invariably provide returns to that municipality in the form of tax revenue and improved property values,” he said.
City leaders, including Mayor Mike Davis, say the trail should provide opportunities for walking, running and cycling on a path solely designated for those uses.
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