MORGAN -- Residents near a new Mountain Green park are asking if the county is willing to sell the property to their homeowners' association.
"From the beginning of the park, some felt it was a mistake," said Karen Sunday, chairwoman of the county park advisory board. "The smallness of the park, isolation. It should have never been taken on as a park."
Sunday said others feel there is a great need for more park space for play and recreation, especially as the county grows. Still others think it would be a good trailhead for an expansion of trails in the Mountain Green area.
"We have a range of thoughts," Sunday said.
Sunday said she supports the homeowners association buying the 2-acre park, and encouraged the county council to use regional park impact fees to improve land near Kent Smith Park and the county fairgrounds to accommodate growing soccer leagues.
"There has been discussion of the best use of the ground," said Ray Walker, president of the Rose Hill Homeowners' Association. "We look at it like a pocket park with limited facilities. Not all parks have (restroom) facilities."
Walker said a majority of residents who live adjacent to the park do not want restroom facilities installed there, and worry about lack of parking.
"You might have to turn the street into a one-way street to provide for the orderly flow of traffic," he said.
After surveying 150 people who live near the park, the county parks board discovered most would like to see playground equipment and a bowery, not bathrooms.
Some residents are questioning if the county even owns the Rose Hill Park, since it was platted as open space in the Cottonwoods at Rose Hill subdivision in 2004.
The county council directed staff to investigate the issues surrounding the park, including the status of ownership, water rights and the initial development agreement. Some council members said they would like the park advisory board to vote on the issue and forward a recommendation.
Council Chairwoman Tina Kelley said she would not support turning the park over to the homeowners' association.
"The community of Mountain Green has always expressed they wanted parks," she said. "I'm not a proponent of giving away something you've got, and they are not making any more ground. I don't want to put a bowery there without a restroom."
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