Georgetown Recreation Club closing permanently because of utility pole relocation for express lanes

Georgetown Recreation Club had its final party on Aug Photo by Cathy Cobbs Members of the Georgetown Recreation Club like a large number of people in the metro Atlanta region gathered over the Labor Day weekend to celebrate the end of the summer season However there will be no more next year for Georgetown which is closing permanently in early September because of a utility pole relocation for an yet-to-be funded project and a surprise sale of a key piece of land on the property The pool located at the end of Old Spring House Lane abutting I- has about households on its membership roster During the years-long expansion of the interstate those numbers went down hampered by the noise and dust generated by construction Last year a soundproof barrier was erected which helped stabilize membership However in May GRC was informed via email on May by the Cowart family which owns the property that land along the edge of the site was sold to Georgia Power for an easement in anticipation of the I- Top End Express Lane Project The proposed I- Top End Express Lanes project would add two new barrier-separated express lanes in both directions of a portion of I- and SR it announced Chosen sections would be at-grade and others will be elevated The proposed project spans three counties Cobb Fulton and DeKalb and crosses several cities including Smyrna Sandy Springs Dunwoody Brookhaven Chamblee Doraville and Tucker The project now in the concept stage may be funded with a public-private partnership according to its website The website commented it anticipated that a private-sector partner will be selected for the final design construction financing operations and to maintain the express lanes in exchange for future toll revenue A part of work in advance of the construction in the Georgetown area involves the relocation of a utility pole at the far right corner of the lot from its current location to another about feet away The movement of the pole to the designated area would land it too close to the pool s pump room according to Georgia Power and other authorities I believe what they will require is the removal of the structure next to the pool the email from Ben Cowart stated It should not affect the tennis courts but the pool equipment will have to be relocated They Georgia Power will be responsible for the demolition but you will be responsible for the rebuild In the May email Cowart disclosed Georgia Power contacted the family a minimal years ago about moving their power lines We didn t do anything about it at the time because with all that was going on with we were not sure what would happen the email continued Anyway they came back and stated if we do not sell them an easement they will condemn it Since we did not have the support to fight them we agreed to sell T-shirts at the Georgetown Pool Photo by Cathy Cobbs Documents regarding the easement sale obtained by Rough Draft Atlanta indicate that the transfer was signed by David Cowart Cynthia C Burch and Benjamin Cowart on April It was filed on April by the Clerk of Superior Court of DeKalb County Longtime pool and board member Justin Dike announced the board jumped into action to see if anything could be done to save GRC It met with the Cowart family Georgia Power and the GDOT to ask for a compromise method a delay in the demolition schedule or a variance on the distance between the pole and the pump room We inquired Georgia Power and they declared that the pole had been ordered and there was no way the project could be stopped Dike announced It s scheduled to be installed in October All other attempts at a response that would allow the club to remain viable were rejected With a minimum estimated cost to rebuild the pump room building at to it is too large of a burden for the club or the membership to shoulder Dike stated At the end of the day we spent a lot of time and effort to work on estimates but we are on a short timeline declared Steve Ellet a former board member If we had gotten involved earlier we could have possibly avoided the club closing Ellet stated the rich people in the sky who will be using the newly constructed express lanes will cause lots of casualties to neighborhoods along its path We just happen to be the first ones he stated Georgia Power has the momentum and we are just a little swim club The land upon which the club sits which includes the pool a clubhouse and four tennis courts was part of a -year lease between the club and the Cowart family which ran from to In exchange the pool membership paid for upkeep property taxes and insurance on the property Years before the lease was up the pool board tried to extend the lease with the Cowarts but it just didn t go anywhere Dike commented It was converted to a month-to-month arrangement Related stories Sandy Springs residents quiz GDOT about express lanes Construction-weary Dunwoody residents learn about GDOT express lane project An air of resignation pervaded Georgetown s final party of its existence on Aug with lots of reminiscing and talk about plans to move their membership to pools outside the neighborhood Several people according to attendees are contemplating leaving the neighborhood all together because of fears about what will happen to the soon-to-be-vacant property I feel like the captain of the Titanic GRC President Bill Hutchinson who has been a member of the pool for years informed Rough Draft I think about all the swim unit kids we had here that are now swimming at the collegiate level of the friendships the families And I also worry that it s going to turn into an empty unmonitored lot where homeless people will camp out In my opinion it s a natural progression of an empty space he declared Several people say that they considered having a tennis-only facility after the pool closes but it doesn t seem financially viable without the other amenities Redevelopment of the site also seems unlikely as it it located in a flood plan according to the Dunwoody Trailway Master Plan and the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA map Rough Draft has reached out to several members of the Cowart family for comment The post Georgetown Recreation Club closing permanently because of utility pole relocation for express lanes appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta