Four-legged friends flock to Newtown Park –
Residents thank Riley for park improvements

by Caron Cooper
January 26, 2007                                               Next Article


The four-legged residents in Newtown are happy as can be now that the Newtown dog run is the most recent addition to the Newtown Park.

Newtown Park was allocated $800,000 in 2006 from Fulton County's Special Services District fund for capital
improvements to Newtown Park – the last county money the park will see now that is in Johns Creek.

"It was my mission to make sure it was spent the way the residents and the people that use the park saw fit. One of the major things we heard from the get-go was a dog park," said Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley.

There is a long history of very little county tax dollars flowing to the north, said Lynn Pennington, president of the Newtown Park Community Foundation.

"It is quite incredible that [Commissioner Riley] was able to get that money," she said.

When Sandy Springs was incorporated in 2005, part of the legislation that state Sen. David Shafer wrote was to divide the unincorporated
county into three parts. Each unincorporated entity was to spend only the tax dollars that were generated within its geographic boundaries, and only projects within those boundaries in 2006.

"So for the very first time, the tax dollars of the citizens in the northeast and northwest remained and could only be spent there. It was an easy allocation
because the Board of Commissioners could not redistribute it anywhere else in the county," said Riley.

"It was sad. It was years and years and years of the same philosophy that it is OK to collect tax dollars in an area, but it was never the policy to spend it at least on a per capita basis," she said.

Of the $800,000 allocated to Newtown, about $350,000 is left to complete other projects in Newtown Park.

"We were able to disperse it all. We didn't spend it all in 2006, but the $350,000 we hadn't specifically spent on a project was granted to the Newtown Foundation for them to finish up those projects," said Riley.

Typically, any leftover funds would have been redistricted to another part of Fulton County. But Newtown Park will have the luxury of overseeing those funds and acting as manager of the remaining improvement projects.

Over the next year, Newtown Park will use the remaining money for a recreation storage building, community house repairs and upgrades, pond dredging and repairs, a volleyball court, and pathways, landscaping and seating.

But finally, the canine residents can enjoy a part of the park too – off the leash.

"I think it is fantastic. It is obvious that [the dog park] has already had a lot of use and will continue to have a lot of use," said Riley.

"There is nothing better than to be able to take them to place where you know they are safe, so they won't be in traffic and so they won't be disturbing other people's property, and they have the ability to really get out there and romp," she said.

Pennington said the dog park has also helped fix another problem – dog messes on playing fields.

"There is no way to correct that situation 100 percent without providing a fenced in area," she said.

And now, Newtown pups have a park, which includes separate areas for small dogs and large dogs, a viewing area, a watering pump and a staging area, all of which are enclosed by fence. Pennington added that the park will have to be re-sodded in the coming months because of its popularity.

In addition to the dog park, the basketball court was relocated, the children's playground received new mulch, parking was added and a new sidewalk was
installed at the park entrance.

"Through [Commissioner Riley's] leadership, we were able to obtain these additions. She's delightful and very modest about accepting praise, but she was the ticket," said Pennington.

January 26, 2007         Johns Creek Herald