MACON, Ga. — As summer gets closer and the days get longer, you may be looking for a place to enjoy the great outdoors.
Folks in east Macon could soon have a new park to visit for those afternoon rays of sunshine. North Highlands Park is underway at the intersection of Boulevard and Briarcliff Road. A big reason they're building the park is so kids in the neighborhood have a safe place to play.
When Bill Causey retired from his full time job with Macon-Bibb County, he didn't go far. Causey is a consultant for Historic Macon, which is spearheading the project.
"I have a real interest in parks, trails, things like that," Causey said. "They kept asking me and it was things I like to do, so it was an easy choice for me to make."
Once Historic Macon called him to manage the park, he was hooked. Causey manages the three acre piece of land. It may not look like much now, but he says his team has gotten a lot done.
"When we got here, it was just a big jungle," he said. "The first thing we had to do was get it cleared. We cleared about three acres. We didn't really want to make it any bigger than that."
The next step is getting the ground level for the basketball court and trail.
"After that, the step will be to hire an asphalt paving company to come in and pave the trail, pave the basketball court. And that's the big stuff. The rest of it is striping, paving, benches," Causey said.
Matt Anderson lives just a couple streets over. He was at the site checking out the progress. Anderson says he loves the historic neighborhood and that people are making an effort to restore it.
"The most important thing here is that they're making efforts to better this neighborhood and make it more safe for everybody around here," Anderson said.
For Causey, it's a chance to work on something to bring people closer to nature.
"Huge trees down there, there's wildlife," Causey said, pointing towards the woods. "Things you just wouldn't know you're in Macon, Georgia, when you walk back there in the woods."
Causey says he can't give an exact opening date, but he says they'll start grading the land next week. He says once everything is paved, it shouldn't take too much longer.
The park is funded through the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, at a price of $180,000.