First of several public meetings on Haig Mill reservoir park planned for this month

Published 12:30 am Monday, December 19, 2016

Dalton residents could get their first look at plans for a park at the Haig Mill reservoir before the end of the month.

“Our goal is to have at least one public meeting before the end of the year,” said Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Card. “One or two in January and maybe one in February before we get our bids back. So the recreation commission and the mayor and council will have some direction.”

Card said the presentations will have artists’ renderings of the park as well as the various features planned for it. He says he plans to put the project out for bids in early January.

“We won’t know how much everything will cost until we get those bids back,” Card said.

The Haig Mill reservoir project will be funded with $5 million from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that voters approved in 2015.

“We’ve got an estimated cost, and it looks like it may come in a little more than that,” Card said. “But I’m really hesitant to throw out any numbers until we get bids back and are looking at hard numbers, not estimates. At that time, we’ll have to say we are at or under budget or we are over budget. If we are over budget, we’ll have to step back and say ‘Are we going to take things off the table or are we going to ask for more money from the city?’”

Officials say current plans for the park include paddle boats, fishing piers, a hiking trail around the reservoir and other amenities. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which regulates the reservoir, signed off on those plans earlier this year.

City officials first began to discuss plans for developing a recreation area on and around the Haig Mill reservoir — which they called Dalton’s “crown jewel” — six years ago as part of an effort to establish what they call the city’s “green hat” as a center for outdoor activities.