Turner Street Park improvements up for vote tonight

The City of Cedartown is set to move forward on their next round of improvements for a local park, bringing it up to date and providing new amenities for residents around the area.

City Commissioners are set to vote tonight on whether they will approve the first phase of improvements at Turner Street Park, a project in the making for the past two years in cooperation between local residents and city administration. The current proposal up for decision this evening only allows for the city to move forward on creating the architectural drawings needed to then bid out the construction work.

It is the first action item on the agenda for the City Commission to approve for their February regular session.

The first phase of the project is being paid for in part by a $500,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to make the improvements and add new items to the park. A full price tag will come require the city to kick in money from their portion of collections on Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues.

Plans for Phase 1 include a new splash pad next to the new Turner Street Center and parking area, a picnic grill and chill area, a bandstand behind the the splash pad and a reconfiguration of the park to remove the current baseball diamond.

Additional plans in the future call for a mini-pitch and a relocation of the playground area already existing at the park. The city is expected to start the work later this year or at latest early 2027.

One bid the city is voting on tonight to move forward with work as soon as possible is for work at the Bert Wood Youth and Athletic Complex.

City Commissioners will be voting on a bid for work on concessions and restrooms at the park’s ball fields. That work is expected to start this spring, regardless of recreation sports schedules that are coming up. City Manager Edward Guzman said that the goal is to get the job done as fast as possible to allow for evening play, with lighting being high on the list to get working first.

“We’re going to work with general contractor who wins the bid tonight to see what is possible to work around the baseball schedule coming up as best as possible,” Guzman said.

City officials are expecting the price tag for the work to remain under $200,000 on the restroom and concession stand job at Bert Wood.