Court halts Dunwoody park trail

A DeKalb County Superior Court granted a temporary restraining order Thursday, halting work on a planned multiuse trail in Dunwoody’s Brook Run Park.

The petition was filed by two nearby homeowners, Beverly Armento and Rebecca More, who have voiced conce over potential water runoff from the proposed 12-foot-wide concrete trail running three-quarters of a mile long.

The court ordered a stop to any further construction activities, including the cutting or clearing of vegetation, just days before the city and its contractors were scheduled to begin clearing about 330 trees from the park’s urban forest.

”The hydrology report used to justify the project is fatally flawed, said Jenny R. Culler, attoey for the homeowners.

Several of the homeowners hired a hydrologist to review the city’s engineering report to check the accuracy of its runoff assessments.

The park trail has become a flash point for several groups in Dunwoody. About four dozen members of the Lakeview Oaks neighborhood, naturalists and tea party members tued out Monday evening to tell City Council members they wanted the project stopped.

Most argued that the current plan is three times the cost and half the length of the original proposal adopted last year. That plan called for an 8-foot-wide trail composed of asphalt and wood chips and cost $130,000.

”We’ve been petitioning the City Council for months now, Armento said Thursday night. ”The idea is to just build an environmentally appropriate trail.