Augusta Parks Master Plan calls for over 50 million dollars in improvements (Atlanta: school district, university)

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"People want hiking and biking trails, they would like to see the Riverwalk and Augusta common improved," Cranston Engineering Group President Tom Robertson said.

Augusta Parks and Rec Director Glenn Parker has only been on the job for six months and he's about to be in charge of a master plan that hasn't been done in four decades.

"What are task going forward is to bring our parks up to a level that's just good, we're not shooting for excellent at this point we just want to bring our parks up to a good standard," Augusta Recreation, Parks, and Facilities Director Glenn Parker said.

Recommended improvements to the city's 60 parks are estimated to cost nearly sixty million dollars, but that could go up to 75 million, depending on the changes they want to make.

"We need to take care of what we have we don't need another Diamond Lakes or another Lake Olmstead, we just need to take care of them," Parker.

Nearly half of the city's parks meet good standards. The other half rank fair or poor, sixteen are considered underutilized. Just a year ago the city was talking about potentially closing some parks, now that idea seems to have changed.

"We don't want to close a park just to say we're closing it so we don't have to mow it or something," Parker said.

Parker says instead they might look at some of those smaller parks that are not used to be made into dog parks or upgraded so people do come.

Augusta Parks Master Plan calls for over 50 million dollars in improvements

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The city is looking at putting a park at Flowing Wells Springs....

Even though Augusta has 60 parks, west Augusta and the area around the springs is park-less. Many of the people who live there travel to Columbia County to walk their dogs or take a run. The city owns about 100 acres behind the springs.

"I would love it if this area right behind me I didn't know there was a hundred acres behind me into a park that would be great," Wood said.

"We see it more as a nature park, we don't want people to think in terms of ballfields and those kinds of things," Augusta Parks Director Glen Parker said.

Donna Wear, an Augusta University Ecology Professor sees the potential for a park near the springs as a teaching opportunity.

"To have this developed into a boardwalk for example where people could come out and maybe even have it interpretive," Augusta University Ecology Professor Donna Wear said.

Creators of the park's master plan look at the area as a potential main hub for a trail that would stretch around the whole city, linking everyone from west Augusta to downtown and back, without having to get on a road, like the Beltline in Atlanta.

"I could certainly see this down the road, those of us who teach ecology, spend a lot of time teaching our students outside learning to do science," Wear said.

The property links up to Sue Reynolds Elementary School. Parks Director Glenn Parker says he's already talking to the school district about helping to make it happen.

Flowing Wells Springs could be the focus for a new city park