InTucker Magazine

Ask Rip – November 2020

Rip Robertson is the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Tucker. He brings to the job years of experience in Parks and Rec, as well as Public Works. Rip is a former Military Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Army and is active with the Army Reserve.

Here in the Parks and Recreation Department, we love sharing good news. That news typically has to do with improvements being made throughout our parks system. Sometimes they’re exciting (new bathrooms at the Henderson Park tennis courts) and sometimes they’re less glamorous (new air conditioning units at Tucker Recreation Center). But this month I want to write about a project that has been a long time in the making and is finally coming to fruition.

I started with the City of Tucker back in 2017. It was around that time that I really got to know our parks and some of the needs that each one had. One by one we were able to make improvements to the parks: a new playground here, a new pavilion there. The one drawback with parks improvements is that they cost money. Oftentimes they cost a lot of money. So where we can find alternate funding sources, we definitely do all we can to take advantage.

That’s where the Peters Park improvement project came in. Back in 2017, I worked with the brilliant Beth White Ganga to write a federal grant proposal for Peters Park. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a federally funded program administered through DeKalb County and it’s one way that we can pay for much needed improvements without burdening our city budget.

In the spring of 2018, we were awarded the grant. I think much of the community was thrilled at the news and ready to enjoy those park improvements, but things don’t always work that fast. We went through two years of studies; one a historic background study and the other a flood zone study. Of course, with this grant running through DeKalb County, all plans had to be approved by the County, another step that took time. In January of this year, we put the project out to bid and in May, we chose Willow Construction as our contractor for the project.

So what are the improvements to Peters Park? I’m glad you asked.

The first thing you’ll see is a brand-new parking lot. No potholes, no faded striping, just nice new asphalt ready to welcome folks to the park. Next, you’re going to see our adult exercise area. This apparatus is something we’ve wanted to bring to a Tucker park for a long time and we’re excited that Peters Park will be the site. With so many people in Tucker being workout enthusiasts, I expect this will be a popular feature of our parks system. You’re going to see brand new benches, water fountains, trash cans and landscaping.

But the most noticeable feature of this park will be the new playground. Much like the playground at Kelley Cofer Park, this will be an ADA accessible structure with swings for infants, as well as special needs children. New safety fencing will be installed around the perimeter of the playground. You’ll see no rust, no splinters, just a new and exciting structure that I think will attract kids from all over the community.

Now, I think it’s worth sharing that we faced a major challenge in renovating this park. As a result of the flood zone study I mentioned above, we discovered that about two-thirds of the park was inside of a flood way. Why does that matter? The federal government, who provided the CDBG grant, does not allow funding for anything inside of a flood way. So, we had to change some of the scope of the project, including relocating the playground and holding off on resurfacing the walking track. We also regraded some of the park to establish proper water runoff. In other words, we took some lemons and made lemonade.

I want to make sure everyone knows that the CDBG grant was not the only source of funding for this project. At roughly $247,000, the grant funded most of the work, but there were others who chipped in. The City of Tucker contributed about $120,000. Park Pride contributed $5,000 for the adult exercise structure, while Friends of Peters Park raised about $4,000 to cover the rest of the costs. It was a true partnership in every sense of the word.

Now, I want to invite you to come get a first-hand look at the renovations. We are planning a ribbon cutting on Saturday November 14 complete with hot dogs and beverages. We’ll eat and fellowship, with proper social distance, of course, from 12-2 p.m. This park improvement is one of our largest undertakings, both in terms of money and man hours. I expect it will quickly become a focal point for the entire Tucker community.