'A New Day': Work Begins on Paces Mill Park Facelift

CUMBERLAND — Local leaders kicked off a long-awaited overhaul of a popular park along the Chattahoochee River Tuesday.

The Cumberland Community Improvement District, its nonprofit arm One Cumberland and the National Park Service broke ground on the $15.8-million renewal project at Paces Mill Park off Cobb Parkway.

After Labor Day, the park service will close the park to begin the $6.3-million phase one of the project.

The park is scheduled to reopen to visitors in spring 2025, while the CID works to raise funds for the $9.1-million phase two project.

The New Day Palisades project aims to rehabilitate Paces Mill, part of the Palisades Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, by improving river access, enhancing visitor facilities and creating sustainable ecosystem conservation.

“This project is designed to restore, enhance and rehabilitate one of Atlanta’s best kept secrets,” said Kim Menefee, executive director of the Cumberland CID.

The national recreation area, which stretches along the river for 48 miles, is the 29th most visited national park in the country. Paces Mill Park section receives nearly 300,000 visitors annually, according to park officials.

As one of the most visited parts of the park, Palisades serves as a popular place for people to hike, cool off, have picnics, fish for trout and exit from their floats and paddles, said Ann Honious, superintendent of the recreation area.

Despite the park’s popularity, Paces Mill has not seen any renewal efforts since the 1970s, CID Chairman Bob Voyles said.

For the past 10 years, Cumberland CID and One Cumberland have been working to move the project forward.

“I love the National Park Service, but it’s very hard getting things worked out through the government,” Voyles said. “There were 11 or 12 different agencies that had to sign off on this project, almost all federal, and that just slows things down.”

Phase one will begin in September and focus on the development of a new parking lot for pedestrian safety and circulation, enhanced landscape features like a wildflower meadow at the entrance of Paces Mill, a new and expanded picnic area and increased access to the Chattahoochee River via new river viewing platforms.

Menefee said there are also plans to add in bioswale channels that will help filter stormwater before it enters the river and hopefully address flooding and draining issues.

Phase one was funded by the Cumberland CID, which invested $4.3 million, and congressional earmarks. The $2 million in congressional funding was secured by U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta; Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville; David Scott, D-Atlanta; and U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

Fundraising efforts for phase two will be led by One Cumberland, the CID’s nonprofit arm, with help from the local community, businesses and individuals.

Phase two will include a new and expanded visitor’s information center with restroom and changing facilities, an open-air pavilion, additional river access points and upgraded trails.

The entire two-phase project is expected to be completed by spring 2027, in line with the park’s 50th anniversary as a designated national recreation area.

During the event, many of the speakers, including McBath, gave thanks to former President Jimmy Carter, who established the national recreation area in 1978. With the designation, Carter preserved a series of 15 park units along the Chattahoochee and metro Atlanta, McBath said.

“During the bill signing, (Carter) remarked on the need for well-preserved recreation areas to be in the immediate vicinity of major urban centers,” Menefee said. “That need and the promise to protect it is the reason we are here today.”

Mark Foust, NPS regional director, calls the area the crown jewel of the community.

“It’s just a heartbeat away from downtown Atlanta and the bustling world, a place we can go to slow down, connect and contemplate the world around us, or a place we can get our hearts beating by going for a run, a ride, a hike or a float,” Foust said.

Banker Rob Garcia, chairman of One Cumberland, believes the rehabilitation project will not only bring more visitors to the park, but also ensure Cumberland remains one of the most thriving business communities in Georgia.

“A lot of the younger workers today want a balanced life,” Garcia said, adding that the park acts as a third space for employees to easily be outdoors and stay active during their lunch breaks or after work.

Updates on the project as it progresses will be available at newdaypalisades.org.

“Thanks to the sustained effort of our friends at the National Park Service and the Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy, we will continue to enjoy these beautiful spaces for generations to come,” McBath said.