I'm curious if anyone has heard about the Bellwood Quarry that the city of Atlanta purchased for greenspace use in the Beltline project. It's a 50 acre reservoir in the middle of a new park the city is planning to use for recreation and water supply located in NW Atlanta.
I'm not sure what types of recreation they are planning to allow or whether the site would be ideal for windsurfing. There is a photo of it at the bottom of this page: http://www.beltline.org/what/greenspace.shtml
Other than that I haven't really heard too much more about it. Anybody else have info on this?
Melissa
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The lake might be a little small, but for learning or just for fun, the size may not matter much. A bigger problem might be all the trees that appear to surround the lake - cause a lot of wind shadow and swirls. It sounds like the best bet would be to go out and give it a try.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
trees = bad
It can take 200-800 ft for the wind to come back down to the water. iirc, the rule of thumb is 6 x the height of the wind barrier. For messing about, if you don't mind fluky wind, it'd be okay. Otherwise, driving up to Alatoona would be worthwhile.
Comparing the drawing to satellite photos, I think the left side in the drawing is north and maybe not terribly obstructed. The south side looks like it will have some fairly high vertical rock faces from the old quarry even when full. It might be interesting on a honkin NW wind-- flat water. Atlanta's speed ditch.
33º 47' N
84º 26' W
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=33.78168,-84.43491&spn=0.0112,0.012145&t=h&z=16&om=1
I don't know about this one, but most reservoir's are off limits to swimming or any other water activities. At least that is the way it is out west.
Same for reservoirs here. When United Water took over the ATL system, one of the new managers was a shredder from CA. I was trying to plant the idea w/him of sailing on one of their ponds on Howell Mill that has an unobstructed NW exposure. (It's actually very near the Bellwood site). When full to the top, it coulda been primo speed sailing. He actually looked into it. Of course these days, nobody's real keen on people prancing around their water supply, even for such a good cause.
I think the pond at the proposed beltline park would be different (i.e. not a reservoir for drinking water) --- but still likely to be fairly restricted. I bet swimming (& shredding) would be frowned upon.
Why have a lake, if no one is supposed to go in it? Another nearby body of water is "Twin Lake" near Doraville. Its part of the water system. Looks pretty nice, but there's a big fence around it.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=33.938429,-84.278848&spn=0.007548,0.011222&z=16
Another interesting place which would be a good speed spot and likely to have more wind than anywhere else is this pumped storage plant near Rome. The upper reservoir is on the top of a hill that goes up several hundred feet, I beleive. Just don't try to sail in it when there letting the water out.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&ll=34.346342,-85.304718&spn=0.015023,0.022445&z=15
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
The new reservoir in the Bellwood Quarry will not have public access. Even when "full" , the surrounding rock walls will be too steep and potentially unstable to allow safe public access. In addition, as a reservoir, there are concerns over potential contamination as well, the water level will have significant fluctuations. The illustrations floating around in the public eye which have been referenced were prepared as part of a conceptual study by Alex Garvin & Assoc., for the overall feasibility for the new Westside Park within which the reservoir sits. The master planning for the park is just getting underway now through Atlanta BeltLine Inc (http://www.beltlinecommunity.org) and anyone is welcome to participate in the process. In addition, the City of Atlanta is redoing its master plan for parks and recreation and I would encourage you to express your needs and desires to that team (http://www.atlantagreenspace.com/).
Paul Taylor
Assistant Director
Park Design
City of Atlanta
You can use Stone Mt. Park as a comparison. Wonderful surrounds with a great lake in the middle. This lake is limited to watercraft under 10 hp and a few activities are listed as specifically excluded. One of the activities that is not allowed and is specifically printed on the Rules Sign is Windsurfing.
However, I have been on my Hobie Cat in the lake with Drew and the sailing was great but lots of tacking and jibbing going on.
So Hobie Cats are ok and windsurfers are out.