Decatur consultants present Oakhurst Park master plan; commissioners ask for canopy, traffic and parking data before next vote

Consultants working for the City of Decatur presented draft master plan concepts for Oakhurst Park and the Sugar Creek/Hawk Hollow corridor during a city commission work session, summarizing public input, alternatives and costs and asking the commission for direction on next steps.

"Today's work session, we will be talking about the Oakhurst Park Master Plan project," said Dr. Remy Epps, director of parks and recreation, as she introduced consultants from Atkins Reallis. Consultant John Poudreaux said the team had gathered roughly 680 responses across in‑person open houses and online surveys and that public priorities included tennis and court improvements, multiuse trails and connectivity to Sugar Creek.

Poudreaux divided the site into three areas — the dog park/detention area, the active recreation fields and courts area, and the Sugar Creek/Hawk Hollow corridor — and reviewed recommendations from Decatur's 2022 recreation master plan, including restoring the stream channel through stream‑restoration measures and adding boardwalks through floodplain areas. He told the commission the city currently owns about 197 acres of parkland but that number effectively drops to 78 acres when cemetery property and Decatur Legacy Park are excluded; using 2022 population figures he said Decatur needs roughly 264 acres to meet the national median standard of 10.8 acres per 1,000 residents.

The consultants presented four concepts. Concept 1 was largely an improvement of existing facilities; Concept 2 reconfigured fields and considered closure of 3rd Avenue to increase contiguous park space; Concept 3 explored building a new recreation center on the east side of 3rd Avenue; and Concept 4 was a larger, more expensive option that included a new recreation building and expanded courts. Poudreaux emphasized options to preserve an open stream channel in some alternatives and a tele‑fence approach to reduce field footprint where needed.

Several commissioners and residents pressed for additional technical data before any formal adoption. "Everything about the plan is beautiful except the fact that it's gonna cost $11,000,000," a commissioner said, noting concern about affordability and tradeoffs. Commissioners asked staff to provide tree‑canopy measurements for the park, traffic and parking impact data for a potential 3rd Avenue closure, and clearer phasing and cost information. The consultant said construction timing depends on funding — 18–24 months with full funding, or a much longer phased approach if revenues are limited — and noted a potential $3,000,000 trail grant that makes splitting the Sugar Creek/Hawk Hollow package an attractive near‑term option.

Dr. Epps and the consultants recommended returning to the commission with two separate proposals: one focused on Hawk Hollow/Sugar Creek to meet the upcoming trail‑grant timeline and a second focused on the active recreation area and parking/operations. Commissioners also requested a breakdown of which portions of trail work lie inside the city's jurisdiction and which would require easements or property agreements.

The consultants said staff would provide additional materials — tree canopy figures, parking counts and potential traffic studies — before the next scheduled meeting. The commission did not vote on the master plan at the session; members asked for the revised packages and supporting data to be presented at the next work session for further consideration.