Parks and Recreation Director Michael Justus told Paulding commissioners last week that construction on the county’s newest park hit a snag recently that led planners to literally find a way around the potential delay by changing the existing plans to allow the project to remain on track.
Construction of a dam and pond that will involve permitting from the Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) could have delayed full completion of the park by up to a year, Justus told Paulding commissioners last week.
“...The problem that presents to us is that it won’t allow us to construct the dam or the pond. They’ve given us a timeline of anywhere from eight to twelve months before they’ll have that resolved. Issue number two with that is that the park entrance road went across that dam,” he said.
Justus said that out of several options they’d decided on flipping the road, which moved it out of the area that will involve the ACOE permitting process. Justus said choosing that option meant that the curve in the road would then be moved out of the way. “We decided to flip the roadway over and hold off on the pond and the dam construction; we’ll do that when the time comes,” he said. Justus said that work could proceed in the next 45 to 60 days. “It will not affect the overall timeline,” he said.
The county will complete that work later but won’t have to wait on a permit from the ACOE to impact the county’s construction schedule for the park.
The park is planned to open by spring of 2017, Justus said. In February the BOC unanimously approved a $9.2 million contract with Atlanta-based New South Construction Co. to build Union Park on 160 acres at Mulberry Rock and Billy Bullock road near Scoggins Middle School, which will be southwest Paulding’s first multi-use county park.
Plans for the park include an enclosed pavilion with a food warming station; outdoor pavilions; multi-use athletic fields; playground equipment; asphalt and gravel trails; concrete sidewalks; a wooden boardwalk; restrooms and emergency phones. Justus told Paulding commissioners during a morning session in February that the county would use special purpose local option sales tax revenues to fund construction. County officials have planned the park since 2008.
“When complete, it will give us a multi-use park in every quadrant of the county, which has been a goal for some time,” Justus told commissioners in February.

Paulding County Parks and Recreation Director Michael Justus. (Photo: R. Grant)(Design rendering, submitted)