By Emily Williams
Lose & Associates, a Nashville-based landscape architecture, architecture, civil engineering and land planning firm is recommending Mountain Brook invest in a $42 million overhaul of its Parks and Recreation Department that would include a new community center, new parks and greenways and renovations to existing parks.
Lose & Associates President and co-owner Chris Camp presented the master plan during a public meeting Oct. 27. The plan is based on data from a community survey about Mountain Brook parks and an evaluation of existing parks. Camp said the plan next will be presented to the city council.
The proposed plan would invest $13 million in renovations to bring existing facilities up to national standards and American with Disabilities Act requirements. A new community center would cost $10 million; $19 million would be spent to create new parks and greenways; and $140,000 would be used for design and development studies in the parks.
“The old swim and tennis facility (Mountain Brook Swim and Tennis Club) is up for sale,” Camp said. “That would make a good park of about 15 acres. Across the street from it there are a couple of hundred acres. It’s got a large, private residence on it, but it is undeveloped land and it’s contiguous to the city limits.”
He also suggested the city buy land across I-459 from Veteran’s Memorial Park and open up more greenways by connecting existing trails to those of other nearby cities.
Camp and Mary Henderson of Lose and Associates presented a three-tier plan to revamp the Parks and Recreation Department and facilities.
Tier one was given a timeline of two years to complete and would include initiating new recreational programs, coordinating new events with the chamber of commerce and the Mountain Brook Art Association, managing new contracts for youth sports organizations, taking a more active role in sports field scheduling and meeting twice each year with collaborators to come up with thorough year-end reports.
Tier two would focus on creating more sports programming for youth tennis and adult sports, finding a suitable space to offer communitywide recreation classes, meeting national park accreditation standards and evaluating all existing programs.
The final tier would involve developing public art programs, creating a youth council and initiating plans to build a new community center.
According to survey data presented by Camp, 1,158 people participated in the survey. Of those, 983 indicated they wanted more paved trails and sidewalks in the community, among other desires.
Following the presentation, the floor was opened for public comment. Many people discussed the safety of existing parks and asked specific questions about how quickly safety changes would be implemented.
