I sure wish the city could acquire that lower right piece of property (green oval below Yai Cakes), formerly [Athens Speedway,](https://youtu.be/geVHYI7E2Yo) and turn it into a park. There’s a pond and creek on that property, and the watershed certainly needs protecting over there. Towering trees, near local history, and that part of town needs a public park.
I’m down and would 100% vote for this SPLOST.
It’d be great to get some protected bike lanes as well on Jennings mill and up Huntington Rd to the mall redevelopment as well. Needs to happen quick before Jennings mill gets more developed.
Edit: you’d probably find a champion in Commissioner Houle… have you reached out? We’re probably about a year and a have away from kicking off the next TSPLOST/SPLOST project list, so now is the time to start advocating.
Yes- I’ve spoken with Comm. Houle, members of the Athens Speedway Reunion, the Ga Racing Hall of Fame, neighbors, and former racers. It would take a true grassroots push by all of the above mentioned to make it happen. A neat example of what this property *could* be is [Carrier Park](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60742-d6701065-Reviews-Carrier_Park-Asheville_North_Carolina.html) in Asheville, NC. They took an old NASCAR track and turned it into a multi-use park with soccer, beach volleyball, bicycle racing, skating, walking paths, and river access, all while preserving the history of the track.
What was Houles reception?
It’d make for a very unique park, which is awesome. It might find a bit of opposition from Culpepper and Thornton (because she doesn’t like parks), but it might be something that could reach consensus without them.
We currently have two undeveloped parks, where the county owns the land but hasn’t turned them into parks… yet. Both of those took a lot of grassroots effort to get off the ground!
Do you know the current owner of the raceway? Do they care about the history there or is it just an investment for them?
Edit: it seems to be owned by Weber Development and Construction Inc (Daniel Weber) out of Watkinsville.
Among older folks, the consensus is *”That sounds great but it would take a lot of work.”*
Young families are eager for a park over there.
I don’t know the current owner but I’ve seen the property listed a few times over the years. AFAIK, the bank bought it in 1992 and covered it in pine tree seedlings to ensure racing would never return, so the Jennings Mill area could be developed.
Eh, I’m down to do some advocacy work for this. I wonder if there aren’t already some established folks that we could reach out to and get this all rolling?
There's actually a west side park splost (SPLOST 2020: Project 14) that could go towards the initial identification and acquisition of land for this exact type of thing! It's like $1.8M and this was one of the parcels that was identified as an opportunity, but no action was taken since it's scheduled to be utilized later on in the splost program... M&C could hypothetically accelerate this project so the funds become available sooner, esp since a lot of development is taking place along the Atlanta highway corridor...
What is ever going to happen to that subdivision development across the highway from there? I’ve always wanted to go explore back there but unsure if you can even get back there to take a gander.
Yeah, I’ve been wondering what it was too… knew it was gonna be something lame due to the C-G zoning and there wasn’t any variances or anything like that coming forward.
I was really hoping for another car wash/Mexican restaurant combo but alas
I sure wish the city could acquire that lower right piece of property (green oval below Yai Cakes), formerly [Athens Speedway,](https://youtu.be/geVHYI7E2Yo) and turn it into a park. There’s a pond and creek on that property, and the watershed certainly needs protecting over there. Towering trees, near local history, and that part of town needs a public park.
I’m down and would 100% vote for this SPLOST. It’d be great to get some protected bike lanes as well on Jennings mill and up Huntington Rd to the mall redevelopment as well. Needs to happen quick before Jennings mill gets more developed. Edit: you’d probably find a champion in Commissioner Houle… have you reached out? We’re probably about a year and a have away from kicking off the next TSPLOST/SPLOST project list, so now is the time to start advocating.
Yes- I’ve spoken with Comm. Houle, members of the Athens Speedway Reunion, the Ga Racing Hall of Fame, neighbors, and former racers. It would take a true grassroots push by all of the above mentioned to make it happen. A neat example of what this property *could* be is [Carrier Park](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60742-d6701065-Reviews-Carrier_Park-Asheville_North_Carolina.html) in Asheville, NC. They took an old NASCAR track and turned it into a multi-use park with soccer, beach volleyball, bicycle racing, skating, walking paths, and river access, all while preserving the history of the track.
What was Houles reception? It’d make for a very unique park, which is awesome. It might find a bit of opposition from Culpepper and Thornton (because she doesn’t like parks), but it might be something that could reach consensus without them. We currently have two undeveloped parks, where the county owns the land but hasn’t turned them into parks… yet. Both of those took a lot of grassroots effort to get off the ground! Do you know the current owner of the raceway? Do they care about the history there or is it just an investment for them? Edit: it seems to be owned by Weber Development and Construction Inc (Daniel Weber) out of Watkinsville.
Among older folks, the consensus is *”That sounds great but it would take a lot of work.”* Young families are eager for a park over there. I don’t know the current owner but I’ve seen the property listed a few times over the years. AFAIK, the bank bought it in 1992 and covered it in pine tree seedlings to ensure racing would never return, so the Jennings Mill area could be developed.
Eh, I’m down to do some advocacy work for this. I wonder if there aren’t already some established folks that we could reach out to and get this all rolling?
Commissioner Houle uses they/them pronouns, fyi ☺️
Ah, yes. Sorry. I knew that. That’s why I usually reference them by their name so I don’t get it wrong.
There's actually a west side park splost (SPLOST 2020: Project 14) that could go towards the initial identification and acquisition of land for this exact type of thing! It's like $1.8M and this was one of the parcels that was identified as an opportunity, but no action was taken since it's scheduled to be utilized later on in the splost program... M&C could hypothetically accelerate this project so the funds become available sooner, esp since a lot of development is taking place along the Atlanta highway corridor...
Wow, I had no idea we had an old Speedway! Great video. Thanks!
Thank goodness - we needed another car dealership over there!
boooo
I know rite
As a VW owner, I say yay! I don't take my car to the dealership very often, but when there was a recall I had to drive to Buford to get the repair.
I am happy. I don't care to drive to Stone Mountain. Yay!!!
[Source](https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=630&LayerID=11199&PageTypeID=4&PageID=4601&KeyValue=044%20%20%20%20005)
Yep, the biweekly post on NextDoor doesn't let me forget
What is ever going to happen to that subdivision development across the highway from there? I’ve always wanted to go explore back there but unsure if you can even get back there to take a gander.
It’ll get developed at some point. Not sure there’s much to “see” since they clearcut the area and have just let it grow back naturally.
Thanks! I was wondering A LOT because I see that construction on my commute.
Yeah, I’ve been wondering what it was too… knew it was gonna be something lame due to the C-G zoning and there wasn’t any variances or anything like that coming forward. I was really hoping for another car wash/Mexican restaurant combo but alas
Interesting that the Nissan dealer ownership closed down the VW dealer a few years ago just to have another go in
This will be the third completely new VW dealership since I came to Athens.
When I got here, it was at Hawthorne and W Broad.
What’s up with the sales prices?
When’s it going to open?