Forest Park Council OKs Clayton County pocket skatepark and $60,000 for connecting sidewalks

The Forest Park mayor and council approved Clayton County's proposal to develop a pocket skatepark at 851 Alpine Way and authorized city coordination to allocate discretionary funds to extend sidewalks connecting the site to Jonesboro Road.

The park proposed by Clayton County will include an open multipurpose area, restroom and maintenance facilities, a gathering pavilion, a small playground, parking, a fenced skateboard area and two pads intended for community mobile medical units, Clayton County presenters said. City staff requested Clayton County install sidewalks along the park frontage and asked the council to supply funds to continue existing sidewalks from the daycare at Jonesboro Road and Alpine Way to the park.

The council voted to approve the park and to authorize the city manager to coordinate with council members to supply a total of $60,000 from discretionary (ward) funds to support construction of the sidewalks. Council members discussed dividing the amount among wards and using existing Ward 1 capital funds as part of the contribution. City Manager Clark and staff said the Ward 1 capital allocation is $48,000 and additional discretionary funds would be required to reach the estimated sidewalk cost. The motion to authorize coordination and allocation carried with recorded affirmative votes from Mayor Butler and all council members present.

Keith Solomon, the project architect for Clayton County, described the undeveloped parcel as the red area on the presentation map and outlined the site layout, including the pavilion, restroom building and skate elements. "The red is where the site ... hasn't been developed at all," Solomon said during the presentation. Marty Fox, interim director of Clayton County Building and Maintenance, said the park is funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars and that county funds are limited. "Being that this is an ARPA funded project, Clayton County has very limited funds ... there is no getting any more funding for this project at this time," Fox said, asking the council to accept the site location.

Several council members signaled support for contributing ward funds to the sidewalk work. "I definitely would be willing to use some of my project funds to fund this sidewalk project to get this on the way," Councilwoman James said. Council members Gunn, Gutierrez, Akins Wells and Meyers also said they could contribute portions from their discretionary or capital allocations.

Council members and city staff discussed cameras, liability and signage. City Manager Clark said the park will be a county facility and that liability will fall to Clayton County; Fox said cameras were not currently budgeted but Clayton County would discuss adding them. On signage text, Fox said he expected county verbiage on a monument sign but was uncertain.

Votes at a glance: the council approved (a) acceptance of the Clayton County pocket skatepark plan at 851 Alpine Way and (b) authorization for the city manager to coordinate allocation of $60,000 total from council discretionary funds to support sidewalks. Recorded votes were affirmative for Mayor Butler and the listed council members; the final allocation approach was to exhaust Ward 1 funds and divide the remainder among the other wards, per the motion recorded at the meeting.

The project timeline described by county staff will start with Clayton County proceeding with park development if the council accepted the proposal; city staff will begin sidewalk installation after funding coordination. No construction start date was specified during the meeting.