City of Cedartown unveils Big Spring Park concept

The Latest Local News from the Cedartown Standard

It’s not a final plan by any stretch, but the City of Cedartown is looking at ways to upgrade and make Big Spring Park an asset worth having right in the downtown area.

City manager Bill Fann revealed preliminary concepts for what Big Spring Park will look like if commissioners approve a plan that will bring a whole new look to the aged park in the heart of historic Cedartown.

Fann said the current park isn’t being utilized in the way it could be, and asked planners to present to him ideas for how the park could be better used by both the public and by the city for events.

He said the plan also had to recognize and tie in Cedartown’s history with the Trail of Tears, and even the just finished carved Cherokee figures facing westward behind the Cedartown Water Authority’s facility.

When Fann showed off the final product of the concept at the Downtown Cedartown Renaissance meeting on March 5, the crowd was pleased with the results.

“This is going to be a huge project, and we’re going to put in a lot of work and effort, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.”

Fann said one of the first orders of business for the park was a cleanup held last fall to get the park and stream in better looking condition than it had been.

Now the tall order of business will be updating the park for a new generation, which will include playground equipment on one side of the stream, a shortened Spring Street that will give room to a viewing platform next to the stone bridge, and a redesigned garden area on the Wissahickon Ave. side of the park.

“We’re going to add picnic areas and pavilions as well in order to give people ample opportunity to use these spaces,” Fann said.

That’s just phase one of the project. Fann said second and third phase will be the establishment and connection of nature trails between the park and the Silver Comet Trail via the Goodyear Park trail already in place.

Fann said the connections are a natural avenue for those using the Silver Comet Trail to use when wanting to explore the downtown area of Cedartown.

“We want this to be an asset for our community, and not continue to be unused,” he said. “I’ve been in city governments that had plenty of things they didn’t use, and it was to their own disadvantage to do so. We have to use what we have, and we have a great resource here.”

Fann said money has already been set aside for the Big Spring project so it won’t cost taxpayers any more money.

Commission chair Dale Tuck added to the park’s new concept unveiling the news that the City of Cave Spring is hotly pursuing the Silver Comet Trail connector to Floyd County, and wants to use the Big Spring Park as a connecting point between a northern trail and the east-west pathway followed by the Silver Comet Trail here in Polk County.

Source: Cedartown Standard

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