City Asking for Input from Citizens for Brook Run Park Plans

Dunwoody is looking to revamp Brook Run Park, and the city is asking the public for input.

While the city has been looking at the long-term strategy of the parks system, it will be focusing in on its largest park.

"To have this here in what is basically the geographical center of the city is a tremendous asset," said Brent Walker, Parks and Recreation Manager. "It's really cool to have the opportunity to have this blank slate and have the community give input on what should go there."

The city will be holding a meeting to help develop plans for the future of on Dec. 11.

It will be a charrette-style meeting, meaning that those attending will be have some opportunity to have say in the design work for the park.

The city has been doing larger-scale surveys and data collection on the city's overall parks system, but the December meeting will focus just on Brook Run.

"This is our first meeting as far as that task," Walker said. "We want to really kind of dial down the specific desires for Brook Run Park."

The 103-acre park isn't quite a blank canvas, but it holds a lot of potential. The grounds currently include walking trails, a community garden, a skate park, a dog park and several playgrounds.

The city has plans to make some improvements, but for the most part, wants public input before any big moves are made.

"We're certainly going to be improving on the trails out there," he said. "We are open to other suggestions in terms of what can go out there."

The only restriction was that the deed for the land, when donated, required that the park be kept at 70 percent green space.

"Luckily for us, the deed restrictions really play into what we've heard from the community," he said. "A lot of people want passive recreation areas in Dunwoody because there isn't a lot of that in the community."

Walker added that this redesign offers huge potential for the city.

"Hopefully we'll have a park that outlasts all of us," he said. "It's one of those things that will kind of be a landmark for the city for years to come."

The meeting will include a review of the 2003 Brook Run Master Plan.

It will be held from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 11 at .

The meeting will be lead by Lose and Associates, a consulting firm that is collecting data for the parks department.

As part of the overall parks survey, the city will continue with that by posting a new survey Monday on the city website. There will also be a paper survey sent out to 3,000 randomly selected Dunwoody residences asking for input on the city's parks.