November Public Forum @ The Rec Center

The Chattahoochee RiverLands team hosted a Public Forum on Saturday, November 2^nd, 2019 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the C.T. Natatorium and Recreation Center in Atlanta. The public had the opportunity to provide feedback on the three alignment alternatives and provide local insight on the project. The study’s public engagement strategy is meant to build upon the strong and engaged communities already working along the River as well as invite new participants to the table.

The Public Forums are designed to be informational and accessible meetings with science-fair style stations led by the Design Team and local stakeholders. Each event is a chance for the Design Team to inform the public on project status and goals- as well as create an accessible platform for two-way face-to-face communication, including hearing concerns from impacted community members. The Public Forums are meant to be inclusive, accessible, and open to the general public, residents of the watershed, and those impacted by the Greenway Study process and future plans. Future Public Forums will be announced on the website at www.chattahoocheeriverlands.com/engage.

The forum was set up with seven stations:

Introduction to the Project Area, Project Website, and Project Team
Research: Existing Conditions Analysis of historical resources, the demographics of the area, current connections & access to the River and the ecology of the RiverLands. The existing conditions analysis can be downloaded online at www.chattahoocheeriverlands.com.
Revealing the RiverLands: Project Vision and Goals. The Project Vision and Goals are available on the website and printed copies were available to anyone at the forum.
Detailed maps of the three alignment alternatives, as well as the Approach and Methodology.
An introduction to the Pilot Site, Existing Conditions Inventory in Cobb County, Alignment options, and opportunity to give feedback on program types that could be implemented corridor-wide.
A children’s area with arts and environmental education.
An interactive mapping exercise of the three alternative alignments. Visitors were invited to share their thoughts, criticisms, and aspirations via comment pins and hand-written notes onto a large format map representing the full 100-mile project area.

MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM THE PUBLIC FORUM:

Overall, the public was generally supportive of the alignment options presented and very positive on the amount of information created to support the RiverLands study. The Public Forum had over 65 attendees, from diverse backgrounds and areas of the project area. Most attendees stayed for over an hour. It was suggested that moving forward, the Project Team reach out to Neighborhood Associations to advertise the next Public event.
In the Suburban Parklands (Sub-Area 1), the public expressed interest in connecting the existing parks with bike trails and soft-surface or pedestrian-only trails through existing National Park lands. Some attendees from Johns Creek were concerned with proximity of trail to private property and the Design Team discussed potential routing solutions.
In the Urban Core (Sub-Area 2), the public expressed interest in connecting regional trails, tributaries in need of restoration, public transit hubs, and existing community assets like parks, schools and libraries to the River – utilizing loops along Proctor Creek, Sandy Creek, and Utoy Creek. The public expressed interested in the RiverLands as an opportunity to reunite those areas with each other and the River.
In the Agricultural Countryside (Sub-Area 3), the public comments were limited but the public expressed interest in connecting existing tracts of parkland with trails and potentially, the re-creation of a historic ferry crossing at Chattahoochee Bend State Park and McIntosh Reserve.