DouglasBoot2 - Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land, Inc.

PAGE 2
A2 DOUGLAS COUNTY SENTINEL, Sunday, November 15, 2015
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C
LAND
FROM THE FRONT PAGE
According to Bill
Jones, executive director
of Southeastern Trust for
Parks and Land, the property was nicknamed “The
Boot” because of the property’s shape.
“The Boot is important
for conservation because
it contains one of the most
ecologically intact habitats
that Southeastern Trust
for Park and Land owns
within easy driving distance of Atlanta. It hosts
the confluence of Bear
Creek and Little Bear
Creek, forming a large
and rocky stream surrounded by hardwood forest,” he said. A community meeting
will be held next Thursday
at 6:30 p.m. at the Shallowford subdivision recreation center, located at
6400 South Summer Circle in Douglasville. Jones
will be giving a brief presentation and will be available to answer questions
concerning the project.
The public is welcome to
attend.
“The Southeaster n
Trust for Parks and Lands
was formed to create new
public parks,” said Jones.
“We are skilled at getting
property donated to us for
this purpose which is how
we acquired this 85-acre
property. Having Douglas
County step in, take ownership of the property and
commit to creating and
managing a passive park
recreation area is an ideal
public-private relationship. The Douglas County
citizens are getting a new
park at very minimal taxpayer expense.”
The property was given
to Southeastern Trust by
an investment group in
2014 with an appraised
value at the time of donation at $3.150 million. “It is a huge asset for
the citizens of Douglas
County,” said Gary Dukes,
director of parks and recreation. “A great addition
that helps balance the
park system’s active versus passive parcels.”
District 3 Commissioner Mike Mulcare
brought the opportunity
to the other commissioners earlier this year and
the entire board heard a
presentation by Jones at a
work session Aug. 17.
At that time, he
explained that the nonprofit would tur n over
ownership to the county,
and the only stipulation
was that the deed would
permanently limit the
proper ty’s usage to the
protection of water quality and wildlife habitat and
provide for low-impact,
nature-based “passive”
recreation.
Jones told the commis-
Liz Marino/Douglas County Sentinel
The majesty of Bear Creek is in full force on a fall afternoon. This view is of property
offered to Douglas County by the Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land for perpetual
use for passive recreation. The proposal was taken before the Board of Commissioners
in August, and should be placed on the agenda for consideration in the coming weeks.
This map shows the parcel
of 85 acres of pristine
woodland off Punkintown
Road nicknamed the “The
Boot” because of its shape.
The land has been offered
to Douglas County for a
passive park by the
Southeastern Trust for
Parks and Land.
Special
sioners, “I think this is a
$50,000 to $75,000 project.
Par t of your discussion
is if the county wants to
take this on. It is exciting
we can bring to Douglas
County a free public park.
We want to deliver this to
the citizens of Douglas
County.”
It appears that the BOC
may be leaning toward
accepting the 85-acre
park gift. During the commissioner’s 2016 budget
retreat, it was determined
that $50,000 had been allocated in the budget for the
“Douglas Boot” project. Mulcare said that the
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property fits into the Chattahoochee Trail Master
Plan and “would be a terminus for Bear Creek Reservoir.”
In addition to the woodlands and flowing creek,
“The Boot” property has
over 1,000 feet of lake
frontage on the Bear
Creek Reser voir, which
provides water to Douglas
County residents as well
as excellent opportunities
for such activities as bird
watching.
Based on an Atlanta
Regional Commission
2015 study on the Highway 166/Conser vation
Corridor, Mulcare said
there was a “consistent
and broad desire to see
the character of area preserved and stewardship of
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The study revealed that
the public was interested
in more opportunities for
walking trails, acquiring
sites and making them
open to the public and to
incorporate historically
significant sites.
Mulcare said that the
proper ty would provide
“miles of natural surface
walking trails and a place
for families to walk and
picnic under shelter.” Preliminar y plans call
for outdoor educational
experiences for county
students and other organizations, interpretive nature
marking and protection
for fox dens on the site.
Some of the things
envisioned for the passive
park would include small,
unpaved parking, security
lighting, picnic pavilions,
composting restrooms
and a security gate. A
light-duty bridge would
be added in order to cross
Bear Creek to access the
bulk of the property. An
existing old homestead
chimney could be preserved and stabilized and
used as a site for gatherings, Mulcare suggested.
There are several miles
of trails already in place
on the property, and inviting “pools” in the creek
for taking a dip or sliding
down a slippery rock-slide. Above all, the property
offers the peace that only
a walk in the woods can
provide — the laughter
from a babbling creek
or chirp of a bird or the
rustle of leaves as a small
animal scur ries across
the forest floor or the kerplunk of a frog diving into
a pond. This is the second large
land donation made in the
county by Southeastern
Trust for Parks and Land.
Last month, the group
gave 159.25 acres of undeveloped green space in
western Douglas County
to the city of Villa Rica for
use as a passive park and
passive recreation facility.
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