Lavonia City Council Approves Development of Master Parks Plan, City Gateway Sign

The Lavonia City Council has voted to retain the services of architect Blake Sanders, owner of Studio Main in Greenville, to develop a master plan for the improvement and maintenance of its city parks.

At their May work session, the City Council, Mayor, and City Manager discussed the idea of creating an overall park plan.

City Manager Charles Cawthon told the Council he had already been in talks with Sanders who is the same person that created the Streetscape plan for the Lavonia downtown area.

At their regular meeting Monday, Cawthon recommended hiring Sanders to develop plans for two major projects, including the design of a gateway sign at the Interstate.

“I think we need some professional help and guidance in two areas. Number one is a gateway sign at the Interstate. We need some type of signage. As you travel around you see signs that point towards different towns. And sometimes that’s the first impression that people get when they get off the Interstate. So, I think it’s important that we approach that from a professional standpoint,” Cawthon told the Council and Mayor.

Cawthon pointed out that the Georgia Department of Transportation requires any kind of gateway or welcome sign to be designed by a professional architect such as Sanders.

The second area where Sanders’ expertise is needed Cawthon said is the development of a master plan for the city’s parks.

“We’ve got a lot of different ideas but we need someone to pull those ideas together and prioritize them,” Cawthon said. “Now when I say park master plan, I’m not just talking about the City Park behind City Hall. We’re talking about it. We’re talking about Spring St. Park, the downtown Gazebo Park, the ballfield, the old City Park, and now the Moose Lodge property. So we need to see how everything is going to fit together. Just like the Spring St. park. Y’all had a meeting there. You got a lot of ideas, but we need someone to help put that together.”

Cawthon said Sanders’ fee for designing the gateway sign is $6,500 which includes all of the design work-ups that have to go to GDOT for approval.

The fee for the City Parks Master Plan Cawthon said would be $20,000.

Councilman Eddie Floyd said he liked Sanders’ proposal which includes getting public input as part of his design strategy.

Mayor Courtney Umbehant said the parks master plan will also help guide future city leaders.

“I don’t know how long the rest of these guys are planning on being here but I’m not going to be here long enough to see all of the parks totally built out,” he said. “I’d like for whoever follows us to know what we had planned to do in case we don’t get it done. My suggestion to you is to approve both of those. I think the sign is important because it lets people know where Lavonia is and it promotes Lavonia. And I think having a master plan for the parks is important.”

After hearing from Cawthon and the Mayor, the Council voted unanimously to retain Blake Sanders for both the gateway sign and parks master plan.