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Updated: Mary Alice Park Development, a Bad Deal for Taxpayers
Originally Published Feb 14, 2008, 2:20pm
(Updated May 22, 2008, 9:12am)
It has recently come to my attention that there is a sewer system which has an EPD permit to flow into Lake Lanier.
This discharge outlet is directly across from Mary Alice Park, and the sewer system has frequently been and currently is violating EPD water quality standards. If the beach and boat ramp are moved to Little Ridge as the EA says, then the effluent will flow by both the Great Wolf development and the newly relocated beach. Please let me know if you are concerned about this.....Jim Boff
Original article
The federal public park (Mary Alice Park) is being converted to a private one. The little public information about this is in an Environmental Assessment (EA) report written by the Corps of Engineers, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Cumming, Forsyth County, and Great Wolf Resort.
There has been little public input into this decision which has been ongoing since 2001. The problem is that there is a lot of manipulation going on here, at taxpayer expense with no benefit to the general public.
In the current EA the boat ramp, which was previously going to remain on Mary Alice Park is suddenly moved along with the beach to the new location of Little Ridge. No reason is given for this removal, however, when the boat ramp goes to a new site (Little Ridge) it removes the last possibility for the general public to use Mary Alice Park.
In a previous EA, the Corps solution to the arson, vandalism, theft, trash and disorderly conduct and other crime reported by the City of Cumming at Mary Alice Park is resolved by building a 600 room hotel and hoping its security would take care of the situation. In the current EA the beach and boat ramp will be moved from Mary Alice Park to nearby Little Ridge. No solution is offered for the crimes that will follow to Little Ridge. Furthermore, all of the traffic that would have gone to the beach and boat ramp on Mary Alice Park, now go to Little Ridge. The EA says there were 70,000 visitors to Mary Alice Park in 2006, using 17,200 cars. This does not include the off season traffic.
If all of this wasn’t bad enough you should also know that in a previous version of the EA the Army Corps of Engineers is quite clear that in order to proceed, Mary Alice Park Road must be improved, especially where the road and Highway 9 intersect in the city. The document which provides for this improvement is called the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and the EA says that this has all been agreed. The problem is that the City of Cumming has never signed this Memorandum. Therefore, this is currently no agreement.
However, according to the terms of the MOU, which provides for the required improvement of Mary Alice Park Road, there is to be a new bridge over 400, a new exit at that bridge, tax deductions for Great Wolf, and a lane addition to Mary Alice Park Road paid at taxpayer expense, with $1.5 million paid from Great Wolf to the City of Cumming.
The MOU allows Great Wolf to build anything they want on Mary Alice Park. Including things that the Corps had rejected in previous EAs.
So out of this deal a private corporation gets exclusive use of 117 acres of public land, new roads, water and sewer pipes run to their facility, while the rest of the area gets no sewer, no fire hydrants, no reason to use the road, no say in what is going on, plenty of crime, taxes and inconvenience.
It is very possible that I have unintentionally misunderstood something here, however, since there has not been public hearing about this since 2001, this is the best I can do to connect the unnumbered dots.
Until there is open public hearing about this many people around the Mary Alice Park area, and all tax payers should be very concerned.
Jim Boff is currently running for Commissioner in District 5. If you are interested in this you can contact Jim at:electjim@gmail.com.
You can read the Environmental Assessment by clicking HERE
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Comments
5 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
Jim,
Very well written and researched. I'll take a personal plug here and point out that I was the only county commissioner to vote against giving the folks at Great Wolf the money to improve that road.
The laws of unintended consequences rear their head when government tries to get involved with business.
Jim,
I agree with you completely. I was against this from the beginning.
Mayor Gravitt calls it a "crown jewel." Sonny Perdue is backing it. I've researched a lot about Great Wolf Lodge. I would hardly call it a "Crown Jewel" for Forsyth County. It's directed at out-of-town vistors within a 300 mile radius.
Reviews say the service is really bad. One 4 year old little girl drown. Children get sick and vomit in the water. They have severe breathing problems from the strong cholrine in the water. People slide down on the wet floors and break bones. They were accused of securities fraud. The one in the Pocono Mts. had serious sewer problems and contaminated the water supply. It's a shoddy operation, according to the reports I've read online.
Ever since I heard this thing was being talked about all I've thought is horrible idea for our little city! It's already a chore to get along that area on any day, but to add this in would create an even worse problem. We don't want to be another tourist attraction that will choke on the fumes of the extra traffic. If this comes up for my vote, I will vote NO and encourage anyone I know to vote that way as well.
Daniel,
I have recieved several emails since I first wrote this article. The whole problem is that as far as I can see no one will get to vote on any of this, and there is no forum for public input or understanding. However, if enough people contact me about this scheme, I will ask the county to have a town hall meeting about this. If you live in the city, I would suggest you do the same with the city. But time is running out they are cutting down trees by the dozens on Mary Alice Park Road now.
I attended the Lake Lanier Association annual meeting last night to hear BG Schroedel of the Corps of Engineers speak, and when Jim Boff asked him about a non compliant private sewer in the vicinity of Mary Alice Park, the General was unfamiliar with the purported plans for Mary Alice Park or the sewer issue, although he was familiar with Bethel Park. Other than the obvious, two concerns came to mind. First, Bethel Park has been subject to public input and the Corps has received approximately 5000 comments which they are sifting through. To my knowledge, Mary Alice Park has not had public input of any organized fashion. Secondly, the Colonel charged with assessing the public input commented that when he was finished reviewing the comments, the Corps will decide to whom to grant permission to develop the park. It is my understanding that the Corps may be obligated to observe a hierarchical obligation, and offer the park first to local government, which would be either the city or the county. I am not aware that the Corps has the ability to grant anything to a private entity.
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