Atlanta-based firm to design revamps for 2 Perry parks

PERRY- The City of Perry picked a company to design revamps for two parks Tuesday evening.

Atlanta-based TSW, a planning, architecture, and landscape architecture firm, was unanimously chosen by council members to plan the future of Goodroe Park and a sliver of greenspace at Maine and Third streets. The company, which is working on the Atlanta BeltLine and Piedmont Park, was one of three vendors to give presentations of conceptual designs to the Council Monday evening.

Concepts ranged in cost from $150,000 to $400,000.

Councilwoman Phyllis Bynum-Grace and Councilman William Jackson were appointed to a five-member advisory committee that will work with TSW to create a solid plan for the parks.

In another matter, a pastor from Kathleen spoke out about the city’s increased fire fees.

Jim Dominey said about a year and a half ago his church, Andrew United Methodist, paid fees to Perry totaling about $30. Now, he said the church pays $380 due to increases in the storm water and fire fees.

Dominey said he’s concerned about the amount of money the church is having to pay and asked the council for help decreasing the fees.

Mayor Jimmy Faircloth said the fire fee is determined by the square footage of the building, presence of extinguishing apparatuses and what the building is made of. He said Houston County tax records don’t include enough detailed information to determine whether or not any savings could be had.

Faircloth recommended commercial and industrial building owners call the fire department and ask for an analysis. After one business owner recently had their property analyzed, it was realized the building had a sprinkler system. Faircloth said the business’s fire fee was cut in half.

“I’m going to make sure the fire department has gone out to Andrew Methodist and made sure that they confirm that the calculation is correct,” Faircloth said. “We made a determined effort for every single commercial and industrial properties, including churches, to go to them and make sure that we have the numbers right.”

Faircloth said Dominey isn’t the first to express concerns about the fire fee to the Council.

“The fire service in the city of Perry has never been at this level, if you will,” Faircloth said. “That is a benefit to every single person in the city, not just residents. So now, if something happens, we’ve increased our response time, we’ve increased the number of people who can respond if there is a fire.”

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter@Lauraecor

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Atlanta-based firm to design revamps for 2 Perry parks ."