GAINESVILLE – Holly Park is a “hidden gem” the City of Gainesville would like to polish.
Friends of Gainesville Parks and Greenways is a non-profit organization that operates in partnership with the City of Gainesville; Gainesville City Council member Juli Clay serves on the group’s board of directors.
Clay said at Thursday’s city council work session that she had just attended the group’s most recent meeting, held at Holly Park, and heard a master plan presentation regarding the possible future of the park that sits on the shore of Lake Lanier.
Clay admitted that it was her first visit to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility off Thompson Bridge Road that is leased by the city. “I think it’s one of the little hidden gems of Gainesville,” she told her fellow council members.
City Manager Bryan Lackey said of Holly Park: “That’s one of our trail heads for the Blueways canoeing trail.”
City councilwoman Barbara Brooks said Holly Park was a favorite of hers even though, “…it’s gone lacking for as long as I’ve been in Gainesville, and people love fishing there.”
Clay said Friends of Gainesville Parks and Greenways has presented their plan to the USACE and it has been approved as a part of the Corp’s master plan.
Clay said some improvements at the park have already taken place. “They have gotten a dock over the summer. It was donated.”
Mayor Danny Dunagan said he and Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department leaders had met with the Corps on several occasions to discuss possibilities for the park. “It would be a wonderful place for a restaurant on that side of the lake,” Dunagan said.
Lackey added, “There’s so many opportunities on that property; the Corps property is pretty deep there and most of it is above the 1085 (MSL) line. But we do need a better entrance; it is hard to get back down into there; it’s almost too hidden.”
“It’s a great asset for our community,” Clay said after the work session. “It’s a really nice area I don’t think a lot of our citizens know about because it is so tucked away.”
TRAFFIC LIGHT APPROVED FOR BUSY MUNDY MILL INTERSECTION
Gainesville City Councilman George Wangemann said at Thursday’s city council work session, “Good news: Kelvin Mullins from District 2, D.O.T. (Georgia Department of Transportation), called me and he wanted me to know that a traffic light at Mundy Mill and Millside Parkway was approved in Atlanta.”
Millside Parkway originates at that busy intersection, traverses the Mundy Mill Subdivision and eventually connects with Tumbling Creek Road at the new bridge before continuing to Atlanta Highway a little more than two miles later.
Wangemann added, “Right now it is going to the developer for any minor changes…but it’s a done-deal.”
“It’s much needed. That’s going to help school buses and other traffic get out…onto Mundy Mill Road,” Wangemann said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2020/8/928970/gainesville-city-council-hears-about-plans-for-holly-park-and-new-mundy-mill-road-traffic-light