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Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

Park across from Macon City Hall to be expanded under proposal

Mayor Robert Reichert is pursuing a land swap that would help him expand the small park across the street from City Hall into a larger public gathering space.

The deal also would help Middle Georgia doctors who purchased the former Shriner’s building across from City Hall move forward with their own plans for the building.

Basically, the doctors would give the city two small parking lots between the Rosa Parks Square and the City Auditorium, both of which are near the corner of First and Poplar streets. In return, the city would give the doctors’ group lots it owns on the other side of the former Shriner building, lots that are between an alley adjacent to the building and New Street.

That would eventually allow the city to grass over the lots it gets and expand Rosa Parks Square, but the Shriner building would still have space for parking.

There appears to be support for the plan, but the City Council’s Public Properties Committee tabled the first formal step in that land swap Tuesday.

Committee members said they weren’t ready to move because of questions about what parking rights the city will retain once it swaps the land.

Several city officials have said they’d like to see a parking deck built near the former Shriner building, which NewTown Macon had owned but sold to a pair of doctors in Warner Robins some time back, City Engineering Manager Bill Causey said. Plans for such a deck may be in the offing, but there was no guarantee of that in documents before the committee Tuesday, so members decided to wait and collect more information.

“The desire is to make the project workable,” committee member and Councilman Alveno Ross said.

To contact writer Travis Fain, call 744-4213.