Brookhaven is seeking public input for four different parking options for the lot that will be located near a public “lake house” in Murphey Candler Park, according to a press release.
The city unveiled early drawings for its public lake house during a Feb. 22 meeting. The lake house is one of many proposed improvements part of Brookhaven’s $40 million park bond, which passed with 60% voter approval in 2018. Of that $40 million, $8.9 million was set aside for improvements to Murphey Candler Park, a 135-acre park at 1551 West Nancy Creek Drive.
During the Feb. 22 meeting, residents brought up issues surrounding adding more parking for the lake house and how that could affect tree removal. In a video presentation released by the city on April 13, Mack Cain, the lead landscape architect for design firm Clark Patterson & Lee, discussed four different options for the parking lot.
“There are two camps,” Cain said. “There’s one group that wants to save all the trees and another group that wants a lot of parking. So we tried to accommodate both camps by presenting these plans.”
The first option would add just one parking space to the existing 52 spaces. Eight trees would be removed and 41 trees would be added.
Option two would increase the existing parking spaces from 52 to 81 to try and accommodate parking for the nearby baseball fields as well as the lake house. Twenty-two trees would be removed and 41 trees would be added.
Option three would increase the parking spaces to 100, remove 42 trees and add 55 trees.
Option four is the only proposal that would remove a poplar and a white oak, two trees the city said residents were specifically worried about losing. This plan would increase the parking spaces to 175. Seventy-five trees would be removed and 57 would be added.
The public can weigh in on the parking lot options by sending an email to ParksFeedback@BrookhavenGA.gov until April 25. The Brookhaven City Council is expected to vote on these options at its April 27 meeting.