Meeting erupts in protest by dog park advocates

It didn’t take long for the meeting to get out of order once the dog park came up.

For months now, the Farmers Barket has been a contentious issue for Collins, who has decided to close it in favor of erecting a similar facility in a different location. His primary concern has been dogs using the bathroom in and around the adjacent Farmers Market that owners fail to clean up.

The dog park did not appear on the agenda, but Collins broached the subject after adjourning the meeting.

“I’m sure a few people are here about the dog park. Can I have a raise of hands on that?” Collins said, prompting some laughter as dozens of hands shot up across the Jury Assembly Room of the Union County Courthouse.

“Instead of having everybody come up and ask questions – we don’t want to be here to midnight – I’ll just be blunt with you: my mind is made up,” Collins continued. “I’m going to tell you the situation of it, where it’s going, what it’s going to have, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Before announcing a new proposed location – Collins had originally planned to renovate the existing dog park that sits near the Union County Senior Center to serve as a replacement – he told attendees more about circumstances at the Farmers Barket.

“Where it’s at now, that property out there, I could have done sold that property four times since I’ve come into office, to grocery stores and other stuff,” Collins said. “And I’ve got papers to prove it … I can show you.”

But Collins said he had no interest in selling that property: “It’s not going to be sold while I’m in office. Period. That’s the reason it’s not sold.”

Someone from the audience then asked what he was planning to do with the property, to which he responded, “Nothing.”

That’s when the murmuring began across the room as people started to convey their disbelief, but Collins, asking people to let him finish talking, moved on to his announcement.

“The dog park is not being moved to the Senior Center, period,” he said. “It is being moved to where the batting cages is over by Nunn’s (Automotive).

Over there, you will have restrooms, not a Porta Potty. You’ll have a creek for your dog to play in – Butternut creek, the same creek. You’ll have walking trails. You’ll have ADA-accessible wheelchair (availability).

“See, now all you’ve got is a fenced-in (area). You are not supposed to have your dogs out walking trails at the Farmers Market. There are signs up, no walking. They’re also in the grass field – we have signs in the grass field.”

Since it became known Collins would be closing the Farmers Barket, park users have come forward to express that they are being unjustly blamed for bringing dogs around the Farmers Market, which they have contended is largely being done by people who don’t use the park.

That sentiment echoed across the room, and one woman appeared to question Collins’ actual concern over the issue, telling him she had seen him at the Farmers Market while dogs were being walked there during the market season.

Collins said he understood that, and to combat such activity moving forward, his office would be starting to issue citations for people caught walking their dogs in and around the market.

He went on to say that the county didn’t have to offer a public dog park, and from there, the meeting quickly devolved into overtalking and even some shouting, with dozens of people talking at once, apparently upset that Collins seemed uninterested in the usual public Q&A.

One man suggested that Collins was secretly planning to install a data center at the Farmers Barket property, and Collins reiterated that there would be “no data centers” as long as he is in office, as he had stated in last month’s county meeting.

“For the record, that property is not going to be sold while I am in office. That’s two and a half more years,” Collins said again.

He made one last point, highlighting the fact that only about a hundred people turned up that night to show interest in the dog park, and that he could easily find 1,000 people who did not want to use tax dollars to support such a facility.

The room got louder, and he then declared the meeting over, at which point attendees were informed it was time to go home as one woman attempted to start a “recall” chant.

MOVING FORWARD

Collins told the North Georgia News the day after the meeting that, on top of having no intentions of selling the Farmers Barket property, he did not intend on leasing it either and had no current plans for the parcel.

He also told the newspaper that he had recently been informed about updated designs for the City of Blairsville Sewer Expansion Project, so a sewer line won’t actually be coming through the Farmers Barket property. But that had only been a secondary concern, he said.

Additionally, Collins revealed more information about his intentions for both the Farmers Barket and the new dog park location, some of which likely would have come out April 16 if the county meeting hadn’t erupted into chaos.

The Farmers Barket will remain open until the new park is available for use, Collins said, a change of plans that should be welcomed by dog park users.

Collins said there is no current timeline for construction of the new park, as County Manager Tony Hughes is still in the process of drawing up plans, and he added that the designs will include ample parking for a facility that can accommodate people with disabilities.

Regarding the county-owned batting cages off Blue Ridge Highway, those are in a state of disrepair and will be torn down, dug up, and the area filled with dirt and/or sand to level the ground for the creation of the new park.

Already mostly level, the secluded property sits on 1.33 acres at the eastern edge of Meeks Park, behind Nunn’s Automotive, as noted above. A fence will be installed to form the main area for dogs.

The site features ready access to Butternut Creek, and Collins said he will be creating walking trails for park users in an adjacent wooded parcel the county owns as well. There are also several shaded places, and in addition to bathrooms for the public, water will be available for dogs.

There is not yet a price tag on the project, which is waiting for designs to be completed.

“Once the plans are drawn up, we’ll figure out (how much it’s going to cost),” Collins said. “It’s not going to cost that much, I don’t think, to kind of spruce it up a little.”

Collins said the reason he has decided to go with the batting cage property over renovating the existing park next to the Senior Center is because, upon further review, the existing park will require too much work to make comparable to the Farmers Barket.

“Plus, that property – in case you ever wanted to sell it or build something on it, you would have to move the dog park again,” Collins said. “The batting cages is kind of off by itself, just a small spot down there, and it just seemed more logical to put it where the batting cages is, that way it won’t have to be moved again.”

For coverage of the business portion of the April 16 meeting, see a separate article printed in this week’s newspaper.