[ad_1]
The Sandy Springs Conservancy has been at the center of the city’s growing trails network, providing guidance, bringing property owners to the table and funds for city projects.
The non-profit organization was established in 2001 and provides expertise and seed funding for park and trail development in Sandy Springs. Through partnerships, it has helped create 100 acres of parks.
Jack Misiura, chairman of the Conservancy’s board of directors, said the organization was approached by then-PATH Foundation Executive Director Ed McBrayer because he thought it was time for Sandy Springs to have a trail master plan.
The Conservancy partnered with the city and the PATH Foundation to develop the Sandy Springs Trail Master Plan, which was adopted in 2019 and updated in 2021.
A committee that included the Conservancy, city staff and PATH Foundation’s design consultant knocked out the plan in about eight months, with its adoption by City Council in October 2019. Preliminary findings identified 17 miles of trails, but the adopted plan has approximately 30 miles of projected trails. Since its adoption they’ve been working on the plan’s implementation, he said.
“Trying to find places to build trails that aren’t just glorified sidewalks along Roswell Road and roads like that, they really kind of tried to get off the beaten path and find some places where you can build a trail,” he said.
The plan includes what’s called Segment 2A, part of a loop that starts and ends at Morgan Falls Overlook Park. It starts along the river and then crosses Orkin Lake to cut through an apartment complex called Edgewater Apartments, he said.
When he saw an image of that trail’s planned boardwalk crossing Orkin Lake on the cover of the Trail Master Plan, Misiura said he thought it could never be built because it goes right through private property. It also had to go over Georgia Power property.
Sandy Springs Conservancy members and city staff worked to get the required easements for the trail at no cost.
“When we get this loop done, it will be over five miles and it will be it’ll be fantastic,” he said.
The nonprofit organization provided $25,000 for the development of the Trail Master Plan. It also helped the city with a Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program Grant for Trail Segment 2A, providing the pledge of 1% of the grant request from a private funding source the Sandy Springs needed to qualify. When the city got preliminary notice of the $3 million grant award, the Conservancy gave the city the $30,000 it pledged.
“We think we’re getting a pretty good return on the investment of our sponsors and supporters,” he said.
Much of what the Conservancy does is behind the scenes, Misiura said. An example is Allen Road Park. Two vacant residential lots were adjacent to the park, which one of the Conservancy board members who works for an architectural firm noted.
“He got his firm to put together a conceptual drawing of what an expanded Allen Road Park could look like if we had some additional space, and we had some more features, so we drew some concepts up and we showed the city,” Misiura said.
The city liked the idea, he said. So the Conservancy went and figured out who owned those properties and put them in touch the city, which then bought them.
The Conservancy also helped convince the city and the neighborhood to develop a park off Windsor Parkway where Nancy Creek flows behind the YMCA. The result was Windsor Meadows Park.
After the flood of 2009 several properties became FEMA designated floodplain and could not be rebuilt.
It has a small parking area with a path through the creek, with landscaping and a pedestrian bridge over Nancy Creek.
“What we say is we create partnerships to improve our greenspace and trails and connectivity, and parks in Sandy Springs,” Misiura said.
The Conservancy also was instrumental with two key partners on Lost Corner Preserve in Sandy Springs, joining the nonprofits The Friends of Lost Corner and the Trust for Public Lands, which created a conservation easement on the property.
Old Riverside Park, which is in the preliminary stages of developing its master plan, is another park that the Conservancy worked to convince the city to develop.
The city has 26 miles of river shoreline but has done very little to make that riverfront publicly accessible, he said. It’s a great natural asset and the city has land on the river that nobody can use or access.
“I think people want to just get down there and be able to be next to the river and look at the river and be in the woods,” he said.
Residents who are interested in the Conservancy’s work can sign up for its newsletter to discover what activities are happening and what opportunities exist to help. An example is a cleanup at the Sandy Springs Library Reading Garden. The Sandy Springs Trailblazer, a monthly trail walk program on the first Saturday of each month, has become very popular after just a few dates.
[ad_2]
Source link
