Talk about timing. A Duluth real estate company is proposing a 200,000-square-foot water park for Buford. In the middle of Georgia's historic drought.
"I think it's absolutely insane," said Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a Georgia water protection organization. "This is a time when we should be focusing on protecting our natural water resources and not using massive amounts of water to replicate some water park in ... an area that has a water crisis. I was just dumbfounded, frankly
An executive with Georgia Land and Commercial Solutions has been tight-lipped about the proposal, saying only that it will start off as a 50,000-square-foot indoor water park as part of a broader development called Buford Jubilee.
Proposed for a site bounded by Buford Drive, I- 985 and Maddox Road, Buford Jubilee's plan includes two hotels totaling 300 rooms, 275,000 square feet of retail space, 400,000 square feet of offices and 275 residential lofts. A site plan for the development shows a 200,000-square-foot "indoor/outdoor water park."
Chad Lagomarsino, managing partner of Georgia Land and Commercial Solutions, declined to answer questions about the water park.
"We will talk in a couple of weeks when we do an official press release," he said.
The Buford City Commission rezoned land for an earlier version of the proposed development in November of 2006. Last month, the commission approved a modification to allow the addition of the water park, said Kim Wolfe, the city's planning director. Commission Chairman Phillip Beard did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the water park.
The Atlanta Regional Commission, which reviews large projects that could have regional impacts, endorsed the earlier version of the proposed development in 2006. It will review the development again because of changes, but not until Georgia Land and Commercial Solutions submits a more detailed site plan, a traffic-impact study and projected daily water-use figures, ARC officials said.
"Water consumption will be a major component of the review," said Tom Weyandt, chief of the ARC's Comprehensive Planning Division.
Georgia has entered the third year of its drought. Atlanta area residents and businesses are coping with outdoor watering restrictions. Georgia is battling Florida over how much water the state can store in Lake Lanier, the Atlanta region's main source of drinking water. And, Georgia officials are pushing a proposal to move the Tennessee border farther north to get access to the Tennessee River.
North Georgia remains in a "severe to extreme drought," said state climatologist David Stooksbury, also an engineering professor at the University of Georgia.
Given Georgia's lingering drought, environmentalists say they are concerned about the water park proposal. Such parks, both indoor and outdoor, can lose water daily through evaporation, splashing and cleaning filters.
"I question the idea of doing something that has that kind of water consumption," said Carol Hassell, vice president of administration for the Georgia Wildlife Federation, a member of the Georgia Water Coalition, a water protection group. "To me, the timing is not good."
Instead of answering questions about his proposal, Lagomarsino pointed to an article by Eric Hansen, director of development services for Cleveland, Ohio-based Hotel and Leisure Advisors, a hospitality industry consulting firm. In his article published last month on www.hotel-online.com, Hansen said 43 indoor water park resorts are now in the pipeline for 11 states struggling with droughts.
The Atlanta area is already home to at least two major water parks, the 45-acre Six Flags White Water in Marietta and The Beach & WaterPark at the 1,100-acre Lake Lanier Islands Resort. Hansen also asserts in his article that indoor water parks lose only 2 percent to 3 percent of their water daily through evaporation, splashing and other activities.
"It does not consume water the way people think it does," Hansen said in an interview.
Water parks being built these days are shallower, they recycle water and use more efficient filtration systems that use 90 percent less water, said Chuck Neuman, president of Beaver Dam, Wis.-based Water Technology Inc., which designs water parks.
"People are really making an effort today to try to conserve water, conserve energy," said Neuman, who is also a former board member for the World Waterpark Association based in Overland Park, Kan. "That is really the trend in all of the newer projects that are being built."
Labels: Buford, Buford Jubilee, Georgia Land and Commercial Solutions, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Water Park
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 10:20 AM
