Hundreds weigh in on MCP Community Center
Residents made priorities known, guiding design process
Brookhaven, GA, Jan. 21, 2021 – As fall gave way to winter, the City of Brookhaven was wrapping up a 10-month public input process on the vision for the Murphey Candler Park Community Center.
“The public input process is in
strumental in prioritizing the amenities which are responsive to the needs of the community,” said Lee Croy, Brookhaven’s Park Bond manager. “We can’t build everything that everyone wants, but we can make significant improvements, including construction of a new building that will meet the growing needs at Murphey Candler Park.”
On November 6, 2018, voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum which dedicated $40 million for a list of improvement projects identified in the 2016 Parks Master Plans. Of this, approximately $1.2 million was earmarked for a community center.
Prior planning efforts evolved the concept of a community center as an amenity in the park. However, more detailed input was required to understand the specific program preferences for the facility and the surrounding area. Through a public outreach process, residents were engaged to determine programming and facility preferences for a Murphey Candler Park community center. After careful review of comments and concerns expressed by the community, the City has chosen to pursue construction of a new lake house, rather than a full-fledged community center, that is more appropriately scaled and programmed for the citizens’ needs and preferences.
From November 2019 through September 2020, residents, business owners, and other stakeholders were invited to share their initial programming and design input through the following meetings and activities:
- Kick off at Light Up Brookhaven
- Online Survey open from January to March 2020
- Pop-up events
- Public Input Toolkits distributed and collected from June to September 2020
- Ongoing stakeholder interviews
- Other community meetings
Over 400 responses have been received throughout the outreach process, including survey participants, toolkit users, and attendance at pop-up events. Most participants lived within one mile of Murphey Candler Park. Feedback was received by the following representative organizations:
- Murphey Candler Park Neighborhood Association
- West Nancy Creek Civic Association
- Nancy Creek Heights
- Beverly Wood Court
- D’Youville Condominium Association
- Murphey Candler Baseball Board
- Ashford Glen
According to input received, the preferred community lake house should offer a high-quality aesthetic that blends into the natural character of the park. It should provide restrooms, multi-purpose / instructional rooms, and an outdoor overlook to take advantage of the setting and vistas. There is strong support for a redevelopment approach that protects the park’s existing tree canopy/specimen trees and addresses existing parking and safety concerns.
The outreach was conducted by CPL, the design team, and Jacobs Engineering, the Park Bond Program Manager.
The public feedback received will guide the final conceptual design to be submitted for the City Council’s consideration.
The entire Murphey Candler Park Community Lake House Public Input Report can be viewed at the file attached below:
