Canton Makes Plans for a New “Active” Park

After the overwhelming number of complaints received by the City of Canton over making Heritage and Boling Parks “passive” parks, Canton has unveiled a plan for a new, $7 million “active” park. The new park will be located across the Etowah from Heritage Park at the end of Brown Industrial Drive. The 59-acre site promises 6 tennis courts, 2 basketball courts, 3 dual-use football / soccer fields, 4 full-sized baseball / softball fields, and 2 youth baseball fields. There will also be permanent restrooms open spaces to run around and toss the Frisbee, picnic areas, and paved pathways along the Etowah River.

Sounds great, right? Now all Canton needs is the $7 million it will take to construct the park...

The City of Canton has requested the money to come from Cherokee County’s $90 million parks bond, of which half has already been funded to other park projects. Essentially, if approved, Cherokee County would handle the engineering and construction and then release the property to the City of Canton. What we are still unclear of, though, is when this might actually happen.

The passing of the “passive parks in Canton” law has caused quite an uproar from city residents who not only don’t have a place to use for personal recreational use and family fun, but for over 350 Canton kids whose football and baseball camps and practices have been cancelled. While the City of Canton flounders to find apparent written contracts allowing Cherokee Youth Football Association and Dizzy Dean Baseball to use the parks for practices, they have informed them that they could lease the parks from them for practices. Ummm…after 7 years of practicing there for free, now the CYFA has to pay? This is a joke, right?? The fact that CYFA is even offering to pay speaks volumes to me about how important their kids are to them.

And so the saga continues…stay tuned my friends!
 

• Rate this Post!

  Select Your Rating:

  • 5 Stars (Excellent!)
  • 4 Stars
  • 3 Stars
  • 2 Stars
  • 1 Stars (Poor)

• Share this Post

  Share With A Friend:

  Your Name Your Email

  Friend's Name Friend's Email

  Optional Message

  Send

• Print
• Social Bookmarking

  Add to Bookmarks: