Fort Oglethorpe plans playground upgrades, names access road

Fort Oglethorpe officials recently awarded a bid for updated playground equipment at Gilbert-stephenson Park and named the access road it created near the new Food City development on U.S. Highway 41.

During the last City Council meeting in April, Public Works and Recreation Director Jeff Long laid out the plan for the playground overhaul and talked about how the city carefully evaluated the changes that’ll be implemented.

“We’re recommending approval of this contract. It will be for renovations at the Gilbert-stephenson Park playground,” Long said. “This will be through GameTime Equipment. The current playground was build between 1995 and 1997, and the upgrades are due to the high use of that park.”

Long said the age of the park is becoming an issue even after years of repairs.

“The equipment has aged out and has been repaired over and over,” Long said. “It’s just time to renovate it. This renovation would happen this fall and winter, after the heavy summer season.”

Long explained that U.S. Communities, a non-profit that helps governments with reducing the cost of purchased goods, was instrumental in the bid process.

“The amount for the equipment is $581,248.68 and this would come out of general fund,” Long said.

Long added that the park will be handicap-accessible, and that a number of local parents gave feedback on the park upgrades.

“We had a group there of some parents who use the park with their children quite a bit, and they gave input on the site and equipment used,” Long said.

“Thank you for making sure this park is Ada-certified,” Councilwoman Paula Stinnett added.

In addition to the playground upgrades, the city also unanimously approved naming the service road near the new Food City development of U.S. 41.

When the city reached an agreement with the developer last year, part of that agreement included the city constructing an access road that connected Scruggs road to the northwest corner of the property.

That new road will now be known as Brownstone Drive

“This is the road that the city built from Scruggs Road going over into the Food City complex tying in with South Sanctuary Road,” Long explained.