It was a celebration with a unique history. Just over the Coweta County line in south Fulton County lies the geographically expansive city of Chattahoochee Hills. And it was at Hutcheson Ferry Park on June 18 that city residents marked the official opening day celebration of the park that signifies both the symbol and the substance of the movement that created the city in November 2007.
“Today recognizes what this community has done,” said Buy Our Parks Now campaign chairman David McMurrain at the beginning of the Saturday ceremony, noting the effort a few years ago that resulted in the citizen-funded campaign that quickly raised $250,000 to purchase 1,135 acres of parkland within the city limits. One of those properties was Hutcheson Ferry Park.
As parks go, Hutcheson Ferry is a relative newcomer, and one with an interesting history. It is more than a passive recreation area that has hosted a number of community events. It also served for several years as one of the settings for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Concert Series. But there is still more to the story.
“This park is a lot more than just land,” Chatt Hills resident Steve Nygren said at the opening celebration. “It’s a symbol of what has become Chatt Hills.”
Those words were pertinent because back in 2002, half a decade before the city was born, the 103-acre site was destined to be a starter home development much like those that line Carlton Road in Palmetto just short distance away. That is when the newly formed Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance contacted The Conservation Fund, a Virginia-based non-profit, about purchasing the property to compliment the idea of keeping the 40,000-acre Chatt Hills area as rural as possible.
The Conservation Fund purchased the property and negotiated with Fulton County for it to become a county-owned and maintained passive recreation park.
The “Buy Our Parks Now” campaign was initiated in the summer of 2007 and was led by the Friends of Chatt Hills Parks, the Chatt Hills Civic Association and the Chattahoochee Hill Country Conservancy.
Not content with waiting for the soon-to-be-established city government to solve their problems, Chatt Hills residents that numbered less than 3,000 in fewer than 1,000 households raised more than $250,000 in a matter of weeks. Participating in the effort were 380 contributors. That’s more than one out of every three households.
The money raised went for the purchase of Hutcheson Ferry Park, Cochran Mill Park, a tract of virgin land bordering the Chattahoochee River, additional greenspace and a few years of maintenance costs.
Once the city was established, Chatt Hills began the process to secure the deal being offered by Fulton County to the other new cities that swept into existence in 2006 and 2007. The price for the park lands was a bargain: $100 per acre compared to the estimated $15 million represented by fair market value at the time.
It was in late 2010 that Chatt Hills received the deeds for all the purchased park properties.
Today Chatt Hills is in possession of the nearly 800-acre Cochran Mill Park, the 103-acre Hutcheson Ferry Park and the 234-acre Riverside/Jones Ferry Park property that fronts the Chattahoochee River on the city’s west side.
The efforts of the city’s residents to obtain the park properties melded with what is easily recognized as a loyalty to and an interest in the more than 33,000 acres that became the city of Chattahoochee Hills.
Even before the city was overwhelmingly voted into existence in November 2007, area residents had successfully worked with Fulton County to establish a new kind of zoning that would hold true to the concept and the belief that development should occur only in hamlets and villages and that up to 80 percent of the city should remain perpetually green.
Now four years later, that commitment by Chatt Hills residents has only grown stronger.
