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Grant contract secured for new park coming to downtown Fayetteville By JOHN
MUNFORD
A new downtown park planned for Fayetteville, called the "Village Green," now has a financial green light since city officials have approved a contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation. The park will be located between Ga. Highway 85 and Tiger Trail just north of Ga. Highway 54. The first phase of work calls for pedestrian improvements and a parking lot, but the city has not yet purchased the property. Councilman Al Hovey-King said the city is still determining how much to pay for the property, which is five acres in size and owned by two different landowners. The project is estimated to cost $1.81 million, but 80 percent of the cost will be funded by a grant from the state's Liveable Centers Initiative program. That leaves the city with a tab of just $361,000. This is just the first phase of the LCI plan for downtown, which involves creating a mixed use development around the Village Green that would feature residential, office and commercial uses. But the Village Green, envisioned as a place for passive recreation, will be the centerpiece and linchpin to the success of the project which officials hope will revitalize the downtown area. "We're trying to make the downtown area a more transportation friendly and pedestrian environment," Hovey-King said. The city plans to have a park similar to that in Smyrna, which also serves as the centerpiece to a mixed use development that includes specialty shops, Hovey-King said. The developer of the Smyrna project is very interested in the plans Fayetteville has in store and will definitely be considered by the city, he added. The development could create a vibrant downtown that could be the "wave of the future," Hovey-King said. And in conjunction with The Villages at LaFayette subdivision, the downtown area will become a more habitable place for residents to live, he added. "It could really provide a change for the better in downtown Fayetteville," Hovey-King said.
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