We are a group of Roswell residents / volunteers who want the Mayor and City Council to devote resources to the creation of a City Green and multi-use park at City Hall. It’s that simple. There will be questions about funding, tree removal, and the location of our beloved Faces of War Memorial. We will defer those questions to the professional planners, arborists, landscape architects and our city leadership who we hope will have the political will and vision to create Roswell Green at City Hall.

The concept of a multi-use park at Roswell City Hall was evaluated by city leadership as far back as 2013. In March 2016, the City Council voted to accept a professionally designed master plan for the City Green development. Phase one of the project included the central green, an enhanced walkway for city hall parking to Canton Street, bathrooms, and landscaping.

With an election in the works and objections from various groups of residents, the plans were not executed and have not been revisited since 2017. Surrounding cities have created their versions of a city green and realized the positive community and economic impact of their investment. Most had to acquire land for the park. Roswell already owns the land for the proposed City Green.

It was an election year, and aspects of the City Green became political lightning rods such as tree removal and the possibility of moving the Faces of War Memorial to a more prominent location. There were arborists and veterans who showed strong support for the plan, but there was also a vocal minority of engaged voters who objected based on those two issues.

Some council members questioned the financial return of investing in a park at City Hall. Surrounding cities who have invested in their municipal campus infrastructure have provided empirical evidence. Such a project invites outside investment to rejuvenate surrounding areas and neighborhoods with residential and commercial improvements. The commercial corridor along Atlanta Street is in obvious need of rejuvenation.

There are some excellent comments on our website given by Jen Perissi in March 2016. Ms.Perissi is a professional landscape architect. In her comments, she speaks to the long-term vision for a space. We will need to remove some trees to create a true park, a gathering place for future generations. And new trees will be planted. Many of the specimen trees will be retained.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees the shade of which they know they will never sit in.” (A quote from a line in the series, Afterlife.)

“Beloved places that are highly valued by people do not just appear.” Je

Again…we will defer to the professional planners and city leadership. Some people have even referred to the Georgia law about restricting the removal of memorials. The original plan in 2017 was to move the Faces of War Memorial to a place of more prominence where it could be seen and appreciated every day. And to add a memorial garden around it. Based on how the area is presently utilized, the existing site for the memorial provides limited visibility with the back facing Atlanta Street. Regarding the law addressing monuments on publicly owned land, any City Green plan would involve leaving the monument where it is or moving it to an enhanced location on the property. In 2017, there were veterans who spoke in support of both approaches.

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation in 2019 that increased the penalties for vandalism and prohibited the removal of publicly owned monuments and memorials without placing them in similarly prominent locations. (GPB Stanly Dunlap 10/26/22) Item description

Roswell recently passed a bond referendum to invest in our parks. It is our understanding that those funds have already been designated for various projects identified by our award-winning Parks and Recreation Department. We are uncertain if funds can be reassigned to this project from the bond money. Neighboring cities have invested in their downtown infrastructure, and our hope is city leadership will make the Roswell Green a funding priority. Roswell is ahead of the game as the city owns the land, and the project could certainly be completed in phases over several years.

City leadership has found ways to make investments without targeted bond money, such as the recent acquisition of two historic homes and the controversial proposed closing of Canton Street to create a promenade.

We want to spread the word and increase our number of supporters! Share on social media, talk about it in your neighborhoods, sign up for our updates. Be an ambassador for the project. Everyone can help make a family-friendly park the heart of our Roswell City campus.