Greenspace Planning
Greenspace planning continues to be a top priority for the City Commission – both to improve existing greenspaces and to acquire new greenspace opportunities. City greenspace includes parks, playing fields, paths and trails, cemeteries, woodlands, urban forests, and stream buffers. Each greenspace enhances Decatur’s sense of place, quality of life and environmental sustainability. The city’s goal is to ensure that every resident lives within a half-mile or ten minute walk of a greenspace.
Decatur Legacy Park
In August, 2017, the City of Decatur with the help of its Public Facilities Authority completed its purchase of the former United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH) property, a 77 acre parcel adjacent to the city’s southeastern border. The UMCH Visioning process was a year-long, community-driven effort to form of a master plan to guide implementation through the years ahead. The plan was adopted by the Decatur City Commission in December, 2018 and a name selected as "Decatur Legacy Park." Annexation of the property into the City boundaries is presently pending by Local Act of the General Assembly. City maps, including the greenspace map below, will be updated upon successful annexation.
Decatur Greenspace Map
Pocket Parks
Pocket parks are typically around 1/4 of an acre and are either located within neighborhoods, surrounded by residential homes, or are located in commercial areas, surrounded by commercial buildings. Vacant or underutilized lots, commonly parking lots or floodplains, can easily be converted to create pocket parks. In Decatur, where land value is high and available land is limited, pocket parks offer the city opportunities to increase park space and access for its residents.
In 2016 the city acquired a 0.12 acre lot along Olympic Place to be converted into a pocket park. The conversion will include streambank restoration, removal of invasive species, on-site tree care, and general clean up of the property. Upon completion, the Olympic Place Pocket Park will directly serve the Olympic Place community, among others who wish to visit. Other pocket parks throughout the city include:
- 5th Avenue Pocket Park - 2
- Ansley Street Pocket Park - 5
- Candler Drive Pocket Park - 6
- Michigan Avenue Pocket Park - 26
- South Candler Pocket Park - 38
- Spring Street Pocket Park - 39
Public Private Parks
Being that available land for new greenspace is limited, the city also looks for opportunities with private developments and organizations to provide public access to their existing parks and facilities. Publicly available private greenspaces in the city include:
- Agnes Scott College - 4
- Columbia Seminary - 8
- First Baptist Church Decatur Greenspace - 16
- Oakhurst Community Garden - 27
- Parkwood Park - 33
- PATH Trail & Linear Park - 34
- Sugar Creek - 40
- Toy Park at First Christian Church - 43
- Woodlands Garden - 47
