MILTON, Ga. — The City of Milton held a public forum Jan. 16 in a race to begin work on more upgrades to Milton City Park and Preserve’s northern portion this summer.
The focus encompasses nearly 80 acres of the 137-acre property.
About 20 people attended the two-hour event, more trickling in, for a short presentation from Milton City Engineer Scott Tkach followed by a talkback. Several visitors raised concerns about the future of North Woods, which abuts 7 acres of active space and contains two lakes.
Neighbors cited remaining drainage issues with Phase I of the project, which transformed an old cart path into a 1.25-mile paved trail, and they cautioned city staff that future work might suffer the same fate. Stakeholders also advised against unnecessarily disrupting wildlife habitat with construction and using bond-funded passive property for active uses, like parking.
“People are wondering — if Phase II is going to look like Phase I, we’re all going to be unhappy, because the things that we’re unhappy about with [Phase] I haven’t been addressed over the years,” one woman said.
While there’s strings attached to funding, Tkach said the city is looking at completing a survey of the Phase I area. Park maintenance staff have complained about the need to continuously fix the existing trail, he said.
Project scope
Funded in part by a Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program grant and the American Rescue Plan Act, the second phase includes replacing a failing stormwater system associated with the golf course, including ditches and pipes, with green, natural infrastructure. Invasive species will also be replaced with more native plants.
The third phase, funded with transportation sales tax revenues, includes a 10-foot-wide decomposed granite trail adjacent to Chicken Creek and a new multi-use sidewalk along Dinsmore Road,…
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