County Buys Oak Grove Land for New Park
The county spent about $880,000 for four acres on Chrysler Drive near Briarcliff Road.
The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners has purchased four acres for a new park in Oak Grove.
The county purchased about four acres on Chrysler Drive near Briarcliff Road, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report.
See the story for more information.
The county has purchased land in the area for another park recently. Here are several Norht Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch stories on that issue:
Do you like where the county bought 4 acres?
Tell us in the comments.
Ms.
4:28 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012
How can the county afford to do this with the current budget crisis they are facing?
Jonathan Cribbs
4:34 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012
If you click through to the AJC story, it says it was purchased with bond money they received about a decade ago specifically for buying land like this. It's not new money they're using, and I'm assuming they cannot legally use it for anything else.
Tammy
4:34 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012
Burrell Ellis has a magic wand. He just waves it around and the money appears. Please do not to be asking too many questions or the magic won't work right.
Jonathan Cribbs
4:36 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012
Pay attention to what I wrote above, Tammy.
Atlantakiwi
5:32 pm on Monday, July 30, 2012
I assume this has nothing to do with the fact that former DeKalb CEO Liane Levetan lives off Chrysler also? The land off of Briarlake would have been much more suitable for a park. Wonder if the county even tried to buy that property?
Christine Callaway
9:55 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Jonathan -- can we see a map or plat of the property?
Jonathan Cribbs
10:19 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
As soon as I have something like that, I'll get it on the site. Hopefully, by the end of the week. I'll need to get them from the county.
RC
10:52 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Two questions from the related articles:
What's the latest on plans to turn the Lavista Rd purchase into a park?
Is Commissioner Rader still pursuing the Nelms Dr proposal as reported last year?
Thanks!
Jonathan Cribbs
11:00 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
I can look into the latest on the Lavista land, and I haven't heard anything about the Nelms Drive proposal. Though that doesn't mean nothing has happened necessarily. I don't cover the county government as closely as I used to – don't have the same time, unfortunately – so things can and do happen without my knowing. I'll look into it.
David S
1:56 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The land is purchased with money from general obligation bonds approved by county voters in 2001, and again in 2005. These are specifically earmarked for acquisition of land for parks and greenspace, and for improvements to the property, with a total of $230 million available, originally. The county website is not clear how properties are reviewed or recommended, but the BoC must approve all purchases. Theoretically, there is a “citizen’s advisory committee,” but these people are appointed by the CEO and Commissioners, and serve only in an “advisory” role. So you can hardly consider this much of a watchdog group.
This is likely the property at the NW corner of Briarcliff and Chrysler, which was put up for sale a couple of months ago. Current assessed value (which doesn’t mean much) is $142k, so Mr. Rader paying 6+ times assessed value is about right.
Kay Clark
2:14 pm on Wednesday, August 1, 2012
I truly hope one of these aquisitions ends up having a dog park.