Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public commenters raise threats to Entrenchment Creek Park, water billing and neighborhood infrastructure concerns
Summary
Residents used the public‑comment period to press the Board of Commissioners to halt a land swap that they say threatens Entrenchment Creek Park, and to call for more timely action on water billing, potholes and neighborhood maintenance.
Several members of the public used the commission's public‑comment period to press county leaders on a range of neighborhood and infrastructure issues, most notably the fate of Entrenchment Creek Park and longstanding water and road maintenance problems.
A resident asked commissioners to support a motion by Commissioner Ted Terry at the next meeting to reverse a land swap that they said transferred parkland at Entrenchment Creek Park to Blackhall (a film studio developer) and then, following a subsequent sale, could permit non‑park uses including a data center. The speaker said the Georgia Supreme Court dismissed a related suit on a procedural ground and urged the county to stop the swap's "current trajectory" or else restart litigation to resolve the matter on the merits. The speaker asked the commission to "help us retain this extremely rare parkland as it was deeded to us in perpetuity as a park by the Arthur Blank Foundation."
Other public comments during the period included: - Questions about the county's water billing statistics and whether delinquent accounts included short late payments or large accounts; 1 speaker urged consideration of a water‑billing amnesty modeled on other cities. That commenter said about $104 million in unpaid water bills was reported and suggested large portions were tied to apartment complexes with master meters. - Several residents from Water's Edge and surrounding neighborhoods requested follow‑through from county departments on storm damage, road debris and long‑standing piles of asphalt at neighborhood entrances; speakers said promises had been made but work years later remained incomplete. - A speaker thanked county staff for a large tire removal effort along Covington Highway but said additional work remained to finish the cleanup.
Why it matters: Public comments flagged potential irreversible changes to a park transferred via a land swap and outlined ongoing infrastructure and billing problems that directly affect residents' daily safety and pocketbooks.
Ending: Commissioners did not take immediate action on the Entrenchment swap during the public‑comment period, but the speaker urged colleagues to adopt Commissioner Terry's pending motion at the next meeting. Several commenters requested departmental follow‑up and increased responsiveness to long‑running maintenance issues.
