The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the plan for a park at Henderson Road in Mableton at their meeting Tuesday morning.

Henderson Road intersects with Veterans Memorial Highway just east of the Providence Pavilion Publix.

>> See the design for the park by following this link

Cobb PARKS Director Jimmy Gisi displayed the plan to the commissioners on an easel.

“This property was acquired in phases,” he said. ” We were able to acquire some of the property through the governor’s greenspace program years ago, but we were able to finish out the purchase of this property with the 2008 parks bond program.”

“When we started this public input process we had two very distinct groups of people in the crowd,” said Gisi. “We have Civil War earthworks so of course we had the preservationists, but we also had community-minded folks that said ‘We want a place to be able to take our kids’.”

“So balance was the key word for this piece of property,” he said.

He described the plans for the property, including interpretive signage about the earthworks and a grist mill that was located on the property, a fountain with a spray playground for children to play in, an open play area, a walking trail, and an aquatic education area around a detention pond.

The background section of the agenda item submitted by Gisi describes the plan as follows:

This agenda item relates to one of the properties purchased under the 2008 Parks Bond Program. On October 9, 2018, the BOC approved funding to support the master planning process for this and five other properties.

Although there is no funding identified to develop these park properties, PARKS requested to complete the master planning process to be ready when such potential future funding becomes available. Completion of these master plans would also allow PARKS staff to periodically complete some of the smaller items in-house as time permits. The process has included receiving public comment during two very well-attended Public Input Meetings for the property. Staff worked with consultants to create the proposed master plan based on the comments presented and recorded at each of the meetings. This proposed master plan was approved by the Recreation Board at their regular meeting on November 12, 2019 following the receipt of additional public input.

The Henderson Road Property is located on Veterans Memorial Highway near Nickajack Creek, and is composed of approximately 29 acres of forested slopes.

The master plan captures the overwhelming public request for features characteristic of passive parks, taking advantage of the physical, natural, and historic attributes of the property.

The plan passed 4-1, with District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott in opposition.