Community invited to planning meeting for Southern Terrace Park renovation project

A community input session to discuss proposed improvements to Cairo’s Southern Terrace Park will be held Thursday, Jan. 17, from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the College and Career Center on the campus of Cairo High School.
The public session is being hosted by the Grady County Archway Partnership and will be facilitated by Sharon Liggett, who will be joined by two students with the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design.
According to Liggett, maps and photos of the existing park will be on display and she will lead a facilitated exercise of identifying amenities and activities the community would like to see in a revitalized park.
Cairo City Councilman Demario Byrden has been an outspoken proponent of revitalizing the park, but on Monday night he did not mention the upcoming planning session, nor did any other city official.
Byrden did request that improvements be made to replace/repair the basketball goals and repair fencing at the park. He said there are also trees that need to come down and the basketball court needed to be re-striped.
The city councilman also questioned if lighting could be included in the improvements.
Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton noted that other than Holder Park, the city’s parks all close at sunset, so he questioned the need for lights. He also reminded the council that Southern Terrace is surrounded by residences, which may be disturbed by lighting.
“It looks horrible. We should use the money we have to do something with it,” Councilman Byrden said.
The city manager said he would not argue about the appearance of the park and he expressed hope that a long term plan could be developed for the park to include improvements similar to those recently made at Davis and Azalea parks.
Thursday’s meeting is open to all of the community and not just to the residents of the Southern Terrace neighborhood.