Mini-grants, new amenities rekindle Pleasant Hill park

Before Macon-Bibb County leaders focused on the Linear Park that hugs Interstate 75, neighbors didn’t really know what to do with the barren landscape split by a concrete path, said Urban Development Authority Executive Director Alex Morrison. 

The Georgia Department of Transportation added the greenspace to the ongoing interchange project as a kind of a peace offering to the predominantly Black Pleasant Hill neighborhood divided by interstate construction decades ago. 

“It didn’t look like one that you would want to use. But now that there’s pavilions, there’s a cycle track, there’s better seating. There’s, I believe, a hundred more trees [that] have been planted in that park than were there before. And then the last two pieces will be refreshed, basketball courts and an exercise gym like the one in Amerson,” Morrison said.

UDA’s board learned its reimaginging of the City Commons mission is more than building or renovating parks — it’s breathing life into public spaces with activities to draw people out of their homes. UDA wants to make sure no one is left out of the planning process either, and sent its operations manager, Margaret Peth, and Macon-Bibb’s Transportation Safety Manager Weston Stroud to meet with the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood Association. 

They reached a memorandum of understanding for the proposed Pleasant Hill Pathway that NewTown Macon is working on through a Knight Foundation grant. Plans call for widening to 10 feet the sidewalks along Walnut Street from Fourth Avenue to Madison Street with markings for bicycles and pedestrians.

Engineering designs are nearly complete and construction should begin soon, Peth said. 

“We were really fortunate to get to work a lot with the neighborhood to make sure that it addresses resident issues, and that they feel the project reflects their needs. So that was really a good point of collaboration and excellent trust-building endeavor,” Peth reported to the board.

Up next is the soon-to-ripen fruit of $600 RCC mini-grants awarded to eight people from a pool of 23 applicants who agreed to host three community engagement events in and around the park. 

Proposals were judged on community engagement, equity, environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. 

The winners, some who live in the neighborhood, are encouraged to spend the nontaxed funds on products that could be used again, like yoga mats, games and jump ropes. 

One grant recipient will have audio recording equipment at a storytelling booth; others will organize board games on porches, host movie nights, or offer health and wellness activities. 

“We have like a children’s history pop-up where Dr. (Thomas) Duval will be leading children to Pleasant Hill’s significant historical sites, and they’ll be creating a coloring book at the end of it,” Peth said. 

Information about upcoming events will be at maconciviccommons.org once schedules are coordinated.

“It kind of shows that when you make these investments that the community asked for, that they do respond. So it’s been exciting,” said Morrison, who expects to expand this mini-grant pilot program to other county parks.

Sidewalk safety, showcasing parks

Peth also manages the county’s parking program and secured board approval for a $44,110 sidewalk repair contract with Piedmont Construction to be half-funded by parking proceeds with UDA funding the rest. Loft construction tore up a portion of the concrete that’s been temporarily patched with gravel.

Piedmont already is enhancing sidewalks along Cherry Street and will add the portion of Third to that job, which is planning to be completed before the Cherry Blossom Festival begins

Third Street will be transformed to include a new park, reduced traffic lanes and upgraded sidewalks, but that work could take years and Peth stressed the hazardous conditions before the board approved the spending.