About Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2013)
COMMUNITY Is Now The Time ? At The Carlton, we make the transition easier. Is Mom having a tough time remembering your favorite kosher recipes, needing assistance with daily activities or becoming isolated from friends and family? It may be time to consider The Carlton Assisted Living and Memory Care. Our warm and inviting home has beautiful surroundings and decor that feel “just right”. New friends and an extended fami ly provide comfort and compassionate care for your loved one. TOM ODER Larry Ruff, with Lewallen Construction Co., carries orange construction fencing for installation in the forest in Brook Run Park. City starts work on controversial Brook Run trail BY JOE EARLE AND TOM ODER City officials began work on a con troversial trail at Brook Run Park days after a DeKalb County judge’s decision to lift a court order halting construction of the trail. “It is moving forward,” city spokes man Bob Mullen said. Construction workers brought ma chinery and orange construction fenc es into the park to begin outlining the area where the $425,000, 12-foot-wide concrete trail is planned. The first phase of construction of the trail, which will create a .7-mile path, is expected to take two to three months, Mullen said. Both supporters and critics of the city plan turned out for the Dunwoody City Council meeting Feb. 11 to present their arguments publicly. Opponents of the plan presented to the city a peti tion against the trail that they said bore 1,125 signatures. “I’ve spoken to hundreds of people about it and only eight people said, ‘We want this trail,”’ trail critic Bobbi Sedam told members of the council. Sedam objected to the width of the trail and the use of concrete, saying a permeable surface should be considered. “Concrete is a travesty,” she said. But resident Travis Reid praised the plan for the trail and other improve ments to Brook Run Park. “I look forward to these projects coming forward that I might enjoy with my wife and my sons,” Reid said. Critics of the trail have complained that its construction will require the re moval of too many mature trees from Brook Run Park and create flooding problems in nearby neighborhoods. The initial order halting construc tion of the trail was issued Dec. 13, four days before construction originally was scheduled to start. On Feb. 4, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Tangela M. Bar rie lifted the order after a two-day court hearing. She told the about two dozen plain tiffs in the lawsuit that their arguments were not convincing, and that they didn’t show the amount of damage that would be done to their homes if the city followed its plan for the trail. The plaintiffs appealed Barrie’s deci sion to the Georgia Supreme Court. On Feb. 8, as part of an announce ment that work would soon begin, city officials reduced the estimate of the number of trees to be felled for the proj ect. The city said a pre-construction sur vey of the site showed that 253 trees — 84 fewer than originally projected — would be cut to make way for the trail. The city said the 102-acre Brook Run Park contains an estimated 12,000 trees and that no trees larger than 25 inches in diameter will be removed for the trail. Of the trees to be removed, the city said, 35 are pines, 62 are hardwoods with a diameter smaller than 6 inch es, 111 are hardwoods with a diameter of between 6 and 13 inches, and 45 are hardwoods between 13 and 25 inches in diameter. But the reduction in the number of trees to be removed did not seem to sat isfy the trail’s critics. Jeff Coghill, communications di rector for the newly-formed Friends of Brook Run, said the group’s members were “saddened” by the city’s decision to go ahead with the trail work. “ITowever, we are not surprised by their eagerness to begin construc tion. Citizen opposition to their deep ly flawed project has been growing dai ly,” he said. “They apparently want to get this trail completed as soon as possible to avoid any further criticism ... ,” he said. “I think they believe that once the trail is begun, citizen objections will fade away.” 2 | FEB.22 —MARCH7,2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net DUN
