If you haven’t driven down Henderson Road lately, you may not recognize the park area just west of the Henderson Park soccer fields.

We Tucker park enthusiasts were thrilled a year and a half ago when the Henderson Park Community Garden broke ground on the empty, County-owned lot adjacent to where the Tucker Youth Soccer Association (TYSA) hosts many of their games and practices. From sunflowers to scarecrows, it’s always refreshing to drive by and witness the community garden grow and change season to season.

Over the past few months, I have been taking photos occasionally of the upgrades and changes to the seven acre expansion lot DeKalb County has been developing. (See photos)

The park has new covered picnic areas, new walking trails and a new parking lot to look forward to, and completion is expected in late October or early November.

In the meantime, there’s still work to be done.

The parking lot and entrance driveway will be poured over the next few weeks. The county approved 13 parking spaces, 12 standard size and one handicap parking space. Final landscape installation is planned for the end of September because of the summer heat. Park furnishings such as benches, trash cans, and picnic shelters have all been ordered; it’s just a matter of delivery for installation later this month.

Contractors finished clearing trees and shrubs last month including trees at the front entry way, which was a concern to some local residents. I’ve been told by the landscape architect firm overseeing the project that they’re finished clearing the park entrance unless trees become sick or die due to trauma from construction.

They finished paving the walking trails and picnic pavilions, and water/sewer utilities and storm drainage were also completed last month.

But with these improvements come some concerns.

I worry that Henderson Park will end up looking like two very different parks ~ one mostly natural with dirt walking trails, a lake and waterfalls, and the other with two parking lots and eight foot wide paved walking paths.

Standards require handicap access, hence the cement paths, but I wonder if the hilly terrain may be an issue for wheelchairs and walkers.

From Henderson Road you get a really good view of the community garden, and the new parking lot. I was hoping a play ground or gazebo would be in full view from the main street that everyone drives by, but we need to wait and see final landscape design before judgment day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled DeKalb County is spending money in our town; we’re thankful for the upgrades and appreciate the efforts.

When you think what this underutilized space used to look like just a few years ago, you can’t help but be excited about the new trails, picnic areas, and community garden.

That being said, we just want to make sure our green space stays green.