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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.