January 24, 2014
Greetings Friends and Neighbors of Rutledge Park
We hope the new year has started off well for you. We are getting our new year underway at Rutledge Park and would like to provide an update for our progress.
As noted in a previous update, in the design plan review/community meeting of October 6th, 2013, input from participants at the meeting made it clear that more playground area and more playground equipment was a high priority. Therefore, design revisions were made to accommodate this priority, and the revised playground scope was presented to the community via email and website (you can go to the website and view the current playground plan there).
After the playground revisions were completed, and during what we thought would be the final stages of the production of the construction documents, the design team (AMEC) notified the county that previous assumptions regarding ADA accessibility were outdated. The park design to this point had only provided ADA access within the entrance area of the park, but new revisions to the 2010 ADA Code included providing ADA access to all public play areas – which are strictly enforced. The modified ADA design criteria is broader and requires that all public facilities, including parks, comply with the revised standards.
Many different design options were studied to accommodate the impact of the more stringent ADA design requirements. The final design solution concept is attached to this email. It is basically a modification to the front section of the old platted house lot that will incorporate existing grades and topography. As sometimes happens, this design is one of those instances of “that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…”. The new configuration of the entry trail will utilize the elevation of the existing abandoned driveway from the street to the first terrace/playground (the playground, upper and lower terrace design is basically unchanged except for the stair and ramp transition to the lower elevation). This will result in much lower improvement costs for the front lot associated with excavation, retaining walls, ramps, landings and handrails (it will also cause less disruption to trees/root zones and other shrubs extant in the front lot area). We will need the savings to compensate for the higher costs associated with handrails, landings, stairs and ramps needed to comply with current ADA design requirements.
Once the design documents have gone through the permit review process (for clarity, no permit is issued for this project, but the documents do go through permit review with the county) the DeKalb County Project Manager, Paige Singer, and the landscape architect, Liz Cole, will review the revised plans with the community at another community informational meeting (to be scheduled at Emory Presbyterian Church).
The revised Rutledge Park schedule highlights as of January 2104 are as follows:
o Playground revisions were completed by end of October
o Playground comment period from executive committee was completed by 1st week of November
o Additional Playground revisions were completed by mid-November
o Park ADA revisions to be completed January 17th
o Submit to permitting week of January 20th or 27th
o Permitting (assuming 30 days) complete mid to late February
o Revisions due to comments from permitting and resubmittal – beginning of March
o Community meeting to review final design – mid March
o Submit to Purchasing and Contracting – mid to late March
o Request for bids for construction at end of March
o Receipt of bids – early April
o Construction begins – mid to late April
o Construction ends – early July
o Planting in the fall of 2014.
For your information, a request was submitted to Park Pride for a delay of the project completion date established for the Park Pride Community Building Grant for various causes that have been experienced, including the ADA design issues. This request was graciously approved by Park Pride, and the grant was extended an additional year.
Sincerely,
Tim Ralston
Chairman/Project Manager Friends of Rutledge Park
(678) 576-0926
Rutledge Final Concept 2014-0116