Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Please help our neighborhood!

Tell City Commissioners “NO” to Sale of Northwest Park
(Time is of the essence. The City’s budget workshop is July 1, 2008.)

City of Tallahassee Commissioners are holding a budget workshop July 1, and the NW Park is again on the chopping block.

The NW Park is a 78-acre parcel owned by the City of Tallahassee and is bordered by Fred George Road on the north, Mission Road on the west, Settler’s Creek neighborhood to the south, and Settler’s Springs neighborhood to the east. The NW Park was purchased by the City in 1995 from Susan Cavanaugh to satisfy the need for active park facilities in this area and to meet commitments from previous annexations in this quadrant.

The site included adequate land for the construction of a stormwater facility to accommodate runoff from the Mission Road widening project, as well as future park amenities. To date, only the stormwater pond has been constructed.

In 2005, the City attempted to sell the NW Park to a private developer to build multi-family residences on the site. Fortunately, citizens in this area, as well as folks from the Sierra Club and the Tallahassee Council of Neighborhood Associations, put together a grassroots campaign that convinced the City Commission to not sell the land. Construction was slated to begin in 2009, but now the City wants to sell the NW Park AGAIN.

The northwest quadrant of the city is densely populated with young families, and is severely lacking in park facilities.

Unless you get involved, it is likely that that the NW Park will be sold to meet short-term budget shortfalls. However, the loss of the NW Park is forever.

Please contact your City Commissioners either through e-mail or telephone calls to let them know that you oppose the sale of our promised NW Park for multi-family residential development, which will leave us with more children with no city park.

Please forward this message to anyone you think is interested in saving the NW Park, and email the City Commissioners to: CityComis@talgov.com or 891-2000.

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