Council to hear skate park plans

Published 9:27 pm Sunday, April 4, 2010

Dalton City Council members will get their first look at plans for a possible skateboard park when they meet tonight at 6 p.m. in City Hall.

Dalton Middle School student Victor Cervantes asked for a public skate park at the council’s March 15, noting that the city currently has no such parks and many young people skate on streets or empty parking lots. The council asked Ronnie Nix, the parks and recreation department director, to study the proposal.

Nix said last week that a skate park would take about 5,000 square feet and that both Lakeshore Park and James Brown Park have enough empty space and would both be good locations. He said the total costs of such a park would be about $100,000.

Mayor David Pennington said the city the city ended 2009 with about a $1.7 million surplus.

“About $1.2 million of that was because of things we thought we were going to spend on the Dalton Community Center last year we will be spending this year,” he said. “But we still came in about a half million dollars above plans, so there is money in there for a skate park.”

The council will also have a second reading of a resolution to enforce rules at West Hill Cemetery. The resolution details policies on matters such as installation of benches, fences and monuments, as well as the placement of floral arrangements, trees and shrubs. It also calls on the city sexton to enforce the new rules.

At a meeting in February, several residents complained that several grave sites are out of compliance with the cemetery code, which bars fences, sidewalks, benches or other enclosures unless constructed by the city.

The council is also scheduled to vote on a budget amendment that, among other things, would provide $61,095 to the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center for roof repairs, new wall coverings for the banquet room and new kitchen items.