LOCAL
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Weekend Edition - August 1-2, 2020 9A
City presents plan for improving Park Hill corridor
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Gainesville officials are looking
to the Park Hill corridor as the next
focus for revitalization efforts, and
after seeking public input, the city
has presented a plan that calls for
some improvements such as better
pedestrian access, streetscaping,
more park space and the repur
posing of existing properties in the
area.
The study, which began last year,
looked at an approximately 2.5-
mile stretch between the Gaines
ville Civic Center and Gainesville’s
Atlanta Botanical Garden. It
included input from interviews, a
community survey and a 14-mem-
ber steering committee.
The southern portion of the
area, which runs from the Civic
Center to Enota Drive, “has really
always been about community,”
said Leigh Askew Elkins of the Carl
Vinson Institute at the University
of Georgia, which worked with the
city on the project.
“There are civic spaces. There
are public spaces. There are
spaces for commerce,” Elkins
said.
Traffic and pedestrian move
ment were some of the most com
mon concerns found in the study,
Elkins said, giving the intersection
of Riverside Drive and Park Hill
Drive near Green’s Grocery as an
example of an intersection that
had drawn concern.
About half of survey respondents
listed traffic congestion as their
main concern for the area between
the Civic Center and Enota. The
majority of respondents also said
they thought sidewalks should be
extended from Enota along Park
Hill Drive and Morningside Drive
toward City Park.
For the south side of the Park
Hill corridor, some ideas in the
plan include adding a crosswalk
across Oak Tree Drive and across
Riverside Drive, in front of Inn
Between Deli. Other suggestions
are reducing curb cuts at busi
nesses on Riverside Drive, adding
a trailhead at the former Green
Street pool site and promoting
new restaurants and filling vacant
spaces in the area.
Another proposal is a “road
diet” on Riverside Drive, which
would narrow the middle turn
lane from 14 feet to 10 feet, leav
ing extra space for landscaping
and sidewalks without having to
acquire additional land.
The northern portion of the
corridor, which runs from Enota
Drive to the botanical gardens,
has several popular restaurants,
as well as some under-utilized
parking lots and empty shopping
centers, Elkins said. While there is
some public transportation in the
area, improvements could still be
made, she said.
A survey about the northern side
of the corridor found that the top
request was improved transpor
tation, which 18% of people said
they wanted. Other top requests
included parks and outdoor space,
grocery stores and a health center.
Some ideas for the north end
included in the plan are adding
a crosswalk on Park Hill Drive,
increasing hours of operation for
public transit, and minimizing curb
cuts along Park Hill. The plan also
includes some proposals for the
Northlake Plaza shopping center,
which houses the Family Dollar on
Cleveland Highway. Excess land
there could be used for greenspace
or recreational opportunities.
Park Hill Drive and Cleveland
Highway could also get extra land
scaping along the side of the road
by narrowing some portions of the
road.
The city has also been notified
that the Georgia Department of
Transportation has approved a
pedestrian crosswalk on Park Hill
Drive near Bluefin and Fastlane
Laundry, Assistant City Manager
Angela Sheppard said Thursday.
Sheppard said the city had been
communicating with the state for
about a year about the crosswalk.
“If you drive this corridor, you
see people crossing there a lot,”
Sheppard said. “They’re crossing
with their laundry baskets. They’re
crossing with baby strollers.... It’s
great to have a unified location
that people can cross and have that
little island for safety.”
The presentation is available
as part of the agenda packet for
Thursday’s City Council work
session.
Fla. lawyers talk about ‘doom’ in water wars with Ga.
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Florida isn’t mincing words
in the ongoing water wars with
Georgia.
“Denying Florida relief not
only would spell doom for Apala
chicola, it would set the bar so high
for an equitable apportionment
that it would effectively invite
states to raid water as it passes
through their borders,” Florida
lawyers said in a brief filed Mon
day, July 27, in the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Florida is trying to convince
justices to hear its case against
Georgia, alleging “overconsump
tion” of water in the Apalachicola-
Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin,
which includes Lake Lanier in
the headwaters.
The Apalachicola River spills
into the Gulf of Mexico, where
Florida claims it has suffered eco
nomic and ecological harm.
Georgia, meanwhile, wants the
court to accept U.S. Circuit Judge
Paul J. Kelly’s recommendation
that justices not grant Florida’s
request for an equitable apportion
ing of waters in the basin. Kelly
was appointed by the Supreme
Court to make a recommendation
to the court on the matter.
It’s been a war of words over
water, as both sides have filed
briefs over the past few months.
Florida filed a brief in April
formally asking the court to reject
U.S. Circuit Judge Paul J. Kelly’s
recommendation.
Georgia fired back in June, say
ing, “After more than six years of
litigation, it is now clear that Flori
da’s case was built on rhetoric and
not on facts.”
Allowed by the court to file addi
tional briefs, Florida did so with its
Monday document.
In the case with Georgia, “it is
clear one state is taking more than
its fair share,” the state of Florida
said.
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