Milton council abandons old road, approves grant pre‑application and several contracts

Milton — The City of Milton Council on Monday voted unanimously to abandon a portion of Old Bullpen Road within Birmingham Park, authorized a pre‑application for a federal Recreational Trails Program grant to add a restroom and trail improvements, and approved a consent agenda of city contracts and renewals.

The actions matter because they move forward a conservation easement process for Birmingham Park and set up a potential $200,000 federal grant to fund amenities residents have requested. Council also approved multiple procurement and service agreements in a single consent vote.

Public Works Director Sarah Leaders told the council that “Georgia law allows municipalities to abandon roads that no longer serve substantial public purpose,” and that abandoning the right of way would let the city remove the road from future surveys and align the right of way boundary with the planned conservation easement. The council approved the formal resolution to abandon the right of way (agenda item 25‑283) by unanimous vote.

During the public comment period, resident Julie Zauner Bailey urged the council to minimize any carve‑out from the conservation easement. “I know right now there's a consideration of 22 acres being carved out. I'd ask you to please consider making that less of a carve out,” Bailey said, adding that the parcel is “the largest continuous green space that we have” and should be preserved “for perpetuity.” The council’s vote on the abandonment does not finalize the conservation easement language; staff said they will return with proposed easement terms for council consideration.

Parks and Recreation Director Tom McElveen presented a resolution authorizing staff to submit a pre‑application to the Recreation Trails Program (RTP), a federal program administered through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. McElveen said the city will apply for the RTP nonmotorized category maximum of $200,000 to fund a prefabricated restroom, trailhead parking improvements and trail repairs at Birmingham Park. He said the total project estimate is $402,000 and the city would provide a $202,000 local match from the Birmingham Park Capital Fund, which staff reported is currently just under $1 million. The council approved the pre‑application authorization (agenda item 25‑284) unanimously; McElveen noted that if awarded, the DNR would later present a project agreement for council approval.

Earlier in the meeting the council approved a consent agenda that bundled several administrative and procurement items. The consent agenda included: approval of Oct. 6 meeting minutes; a project framework agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation for transportation improvements from Windward Parkway to the Forsyth County line; a renewal order and addendum with Clearview AI for software as a service to be used by the Milton Police Department; a construction services agreement with CMC Inc. for the Crabapple multi‑use trail project; a professional services agreement with Kimberly Horn and Associates for the Milton comprehensive plan five‑year update; a renewal agreement with DocuSign for electronic signatures; and an agreement with Just FOIA Inc. for open‑records redaction services. Council approved the consent agenda unanimously (consent agenda, agenda item 25‑276 series).

The council also adopted the 2026 city council regular meeting and work session schedule (agenda item 25‑285) and moved into an executive session later in the evening to discuss personnel, land acquisition and litigation; both actions were approved unanimously.

Next steps: staff will return with the draft conservation easement language for Birmingham Park and, if the RTP pre‑application advances to the next phase and is awarded, the DNR will bring a project agreement to council for formal acceptance and funding authorization.