It’s behind schedule. It cost $13 million. And some are uncertain they’ll ever use it.
A year’s delay hasn’t softened some residents’ stance on Sandy Springs’ long-running Abernathy Greenway project. Some neighbors question spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars for a linear park running along a four-lane highway that draws more than 25,000 vehicles a day.
“It’s just frustrating that it’s taking forever to get built and nobody in the neighborhood likes it,” said Amiee Waters, 39, who has lived on Brandon Ridge Road behind the park for 11 years. She and her 4-year-old daughter Regan are excited about the prospect of a park but not sure when they might be able to use it.
Work on the 20-acre park resumed recently after the Georgia DOT completed widening work on Abernathy Road. By next spring, the one-third-mile strip will include lighting, irrigation, hardscape, landscaping, park benches, sidewalks, bike racks, playable art structures and a restroom pavilion.
Some nearby residents say they don’t know how the park’s plans will be implemented, when it will be completed or how thoroughly it will be maintained.
“We’ve lived here for five years, but nothing’s changed,” said Paige Zaparanuik, the mother of two, who lives on the border park tract.
The project has hit several snags since ground was broken in 2010. Some were the result of grade changes associated with the road project, causing a delay. In other cases, plans for the park were changed to include adding spaces to the parking lot and relocating bathrooms.
Plans to widen Abernathy Road go back 20 years, long before Sandy Springs was a city. Residents at the time were fearful the widening would spawn commercial growth along the stretch.
“Only by promising a parkway, or linear park, along both sides of the road were we able to sell the neighborhoods on the widening of Abernathy,” Mayor Eva Galambos said. “That meant buying more land on both sides of the road, part of which was paid locally.”
Galambos said the park concept was integral to the entire concept of widening. It has been considered a neighborhood amenity, with substantial input by the subdivisions on either side.
Linda Bain, executive director of the Sandy Springs Conservancy, said she’s happy to see the project nearing completion.
The conservancy took an interest in the plan early, seeing it as a means of adding much-needed park space to a city that is heavily developed. The plan grew from a simple buffer to adding more amenities as local leaders and residents weighed in.
“It was an ambitious plan because we were looking for it to do so many things,” Bain said.
The conservancy is contributing six large sculptures of playable art to the greenway. Because of the delays, two of those sculptures sit in storage nearby, two are in fabrication and another — a large granite boulder — is awaiting shipment. One is already on site.
Bain said she also looks forward to more park work on the south side of Abernathy. Plans there, she said, call for a walking trail.
Despite plans for a parking lot, many residents are concerned about turn-around traffic that will loop through their sloping neighborhood.
Drew Wilson, 31, said he worries the lack of a turn lane for drivers on the south side of Abernathy will create havoc. Those drivers will be forced to cross over Abernathy to get into the parking lot on the north side of the street, which will add to the already considerable congestion in the area, he said.
Charles Wilson, 74, has mixed feelings about the whole project. Wilson, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1979, said the designs for the bathroom pavilion show a tall peaked roof, which many residents are uncomfortable with.
“How would you like to look out your deck to see a three-story roof bathroom?” he asked.
Nevertheless, Wilson likes the idea of a park and thinks it will raise nearby property values.
“It’s still light years ahead of where it was,” he said. “Once the trees mature, people will change their minds about it.”
City Councilman Chip Collins said he’s aware of some of the concerns by neighbors.
“We’re trying to get this right the first time, but if it turns out we’ve got a parking lot nobody’s using, I’ll be the first to say, ‘Let’s sod it,’” Collins said.
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