Trails Are Not Free !

By Jeff Young

1. How much will the South Fork Conservancy Trail Plan Cost?


2. Where will the money come from?

 

These are two of many key questions SFC has not answered prior to seeking ommunity support for its proposal.  Don’t be surprised if the answers are:

1. a lot; and


2. taxes, neighbors passing the hat for upkeep, and foundation grants.

Let’s make some educated guesses about just one of the major expenses required.

Bridges

Many bridges would be required to complete the trail from Cheshire Bridge to Decatur and Tucker.  Three bridges would be needed just in the area where the creek runs behind Homestead and Lenox Circle and then crosses under Lenox Road to Robin Lane.  Map 1 below is a portion of a map from the SFC website that I have marked in red to show the approximate positions of bridges at crossings proposed by SFC (existing bridges are in yellow):

[caption id="attachment_358" align="alignnone" width="300"] MAP 1 - Trail Proposal Showing Needed Bridges[/caption]

Where the two bridges would cross the creek itself near Homestead and Robin Lane, the creek has cut deep canyons.  The third bridge would be required to span the tributary stream that runs along Lenox Road.  That stream also floods, but has a smaller flow volume.  The canyon walls are reflected in the close contour lines on Map 2 below. When it rains hard in DeKalb County, the water rushes through these canyons, carrying debris and logs and rising to flood Lenox Road.  These flash floods are dangerous! When you are walking by, take a look yourself from the Lenox Road bridge downstream, and think about how you would get out if a wall of water suddenly appeared heading toward you.

Map 2 below shows the proposed location of the Robin Lane bridge.  The creek is marked in blue, and sewers on both sides of the creek are marked in pink.  The trail would run west to east behind the Morningside Place condominiums, paralleling the newer sewer line that was installed several years ago.

[caption id="attachment_359" align="alignnone" width="229"] Area of Needed Bridge Near Robin Lane[/caption]

We understand from residents that the condominium association sold a trail easement to the city in addition to the sewer easement (which by itself does not allow access for a hiking trail).  The trail runs into private property (white space) prior to reaching Lenox Road, and therefore SFC proposes to build a bridge to extend the trail over the creek onto land the city owns on the south bank.  This property consists of steep terrain up to a narrow, flat strip along Robin Lane.  It extends to Lenox Road (not shown), and the city owns another parcel on the south side of the creek on the east side of Lenox Road (not shown).  Another, older sewer runs along the creek on the south side.  This map includes contour lines – the closer the lines, the steeper the hill.

Some of the challenges of bridge building here would be:

• Designing a bridge massive and strong enough so that its foundation would withstand the flood waters, and tall enough so that its deck would not flood.


• Positioning the footers to avoid interfering with the major sewers that run along both sides of the creek.


• Finding room for all this structure within the canyon walls.


• Avoiding massive damage to the creek banks during construction.


• Figuring out how the massive footers could be placed so as not to channel flows in a way that would increase bank erosion during flooding.


• Constructing huge bridges without significant damage to wildlife habitat in the narrow wetland corridor.

What do we mean by a massive bridge?  Let’s look at the suspension bridge that was built in the Morningside Nature Preserve(MNP).  First, note that this bridge was built where the creek has a relatively flat flood plain rather than steep canyon walls, so the same volume of water would not have the same velocity hitting the bridge.  By the way, we have reports of water rising up to the bottom of the stairs of this bridge.

[caption id="attachment_361" align="alignnone" width="300"] Bridge in Morningside Nature Preserve[/caption]

The MNP bridge is 140 feet long (I measured it).  The bridge deck along is 100 feet, the width of my lot.  The pylons are pretty obviously planted deeply in the stream bed, and the cables are anchored in large, mostly buried concrete blocks positioned up on the banks.  The bridge is a beautiful piece of engineering and design.

The cost?  According to a city official, over $200,000 for one bridge.

Who paid for it?  The official said the cost was split between City of Atlanta funds and the PATH Foundation.

Common sense suggests that the new bridges over the main creek would have more rigorous structural requirements and would be more expensive.  That means that “connecting” trails from this area to other segments of the project would likely require $400,000 to $500,000 up front for these bridges.  But that is the tip of the iceberg.  I count 44 crossings along the length of the SFC trail plan.  Perhaps a handful of these already have bridges.  That total does not include the existing bridges I know of in the MNP, Johnson Taylor, and along Medlock Trail.

Do You Trust Politicians Who Don’t Tell You What a Project Costs?  Do You Trust That a Project Will Come In On Budget When They Do Tell You?  Let’s Require the Same Stewardship of Our Money Here.

The SFC Proposal is Expensive!  

Let’s look at the impact if SFC snares a major foundation grant for this project.  It is always tempting to think that whenever a foundation kicks in, the city should snap up a bargain.  But these are lean times, especially for local governments.  The city’s share is money that would not be available for other purposes.  By the same token, the foundation money would not be available for other purposes, and some grants might help the city accomplish really high priority goals, for example in the schools.  Morningside has more parks than most areas of the city, and even the SFC survey showed that residents are satisfied with their parks.  Building more parks in Morningside should not be a priority for spending.

Turning from construction to examples of longer term expenses, we asked SFC at the public meetings who would maintain the trails and keep them safe.  SFC supporters suggested that nearby neighbors contribute to hire security officers and pay to maintain the trails.  We were not impressed at the idea of people from outside our area coming in and telling us what we need, and by the way we should take on a financial burden lasting long after they are gone.

Some of the SFC folks were involved in the restoration of the Olmstead Parks along Ponce de Leon Ave.  We hear that neighbors have had to contribute regularly to a fund for maintaining those parks.

We cannot count on the city having sufficient funds to patrol and maintain SFC trails.

In summary, SFC is looking to build out a huge project with somebody else’s money, and it will take a ton of cash.  Is this where our taxes and donations should go?