Hi Newtown Lights supporters!

We haven't posted an update in a while and wanted to fill you in on some recent developments with the petition to get lights added at Newtown Park. Since this petition was created, there's been a lot of community feedback from both sides of the issue.

In recent City Council meetings, original residents of the Queensbury and Chartwell neighborhoods shared that as a condition when Newtown Park was created in the 1990s, the neighborhood created a handshake deal with Fulton County (the City of Johns Creek didn't exist at the time) to never put lights in the park. When Johns Creek inherited the parks 20ish years later, they argued that the conditions of the creation of the park passed along with it.

In the City Council meeting on 4/11, Mayor Bradberry and councilman Coughlin seemed to agree with this thinking. They declared that it would be breaking promises made in the past to build lights throughout the park. They went on to say that it is important to "honor commitments made to residents in the past" and that citizens will lose faith in their government if it were to break promises like this one. Link (City Council Part 2 4/11/2022 - discussion starts at the 9 min mark)

A lot of things have changed in the 20+ years since that agreement was made. Johns Creek has grown nearly 50% in population and most of Johns Creek's geographic area has been built out with developments. There aren't huge swaths of land to build new parks. Participation in youth sports continues to rise, and Newtown Park is the now proud owner of one of the nicest dog parks in the country. 

Thanks to the hard work of the City Council, Chartwell/Queensbury neighborhoods, and Newtown pro-light community, a resolution was submitted this week at city council to enable lights on the North side of the park. This resolution has support from the surrounding neighborhoods, and is a huge step in the right direction toward creating opportunities for local citizens to use the park in the evenings. Link (Jump to page 184) This would permit the building of lights at the dog park, basketball courts, amphitheater, lacrosse field, tennis, and pickleball areas. The baseball fields, soccer fields, and the majority of the walking trail would be marked as areas not fit for lighting. 

Chartwell and Queensbury residents say that this compromise is more than fair to those who want the lights installed. Opponents to this resolution claim that it is the Johns Creeks government's responsibility to support the needs of all of its 85,000+ citizens, not just the ones living next door to the park with a word of mouth promise made 20+ years ago with a different government entity. 

Regardless of the differing thoughts on the debate, we are encouraged by the steps that have been made in the past few weeks. As recently as last year, the creation of lights at these areas of the park were completely off the table. Thank you to the Johns Creek City Council and the Parks and Rec team for their willingness to hear everyone's sides. While funding of the lights and a timetable for installation are still goals in the distance, this resolution could be an important first step toward getting some lights installed in the park.

If you have thoughts on these recent developments, we encourage you to leave comments below, email your council representatives, and take part in the community parks master update planning process this fall. Thanks everyone!