A Look at Simpsonwood Park’s Past and Plans for Future Development

Source: Peachtree Corners Post 2 Councilmember Eric Christ’s recent newsletter.

The Simpsonwood Park Citizen Steering Committee met again in January and reviewed three concept alternatives presented by the Gwinnett County Parks Department. There was lots of voting by the committee members on the various potential plan elements, as well as input from the general public during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Overall, the plans continue to move towards passive and natural uses — more than in the 2016 plan and far more natural when compared to the 700-person conference center and recreation facilities operated by the Methodist Church from 1985 until 2014 at that location.

1. Buildings — after the purchase, the county spent almost a million dollars to remove multiple buildings with 170+ hotel rooms, an office building, a kitchen and dining room with the capacity to feed 350 guests at one sitting, laundry facilities, 20,000 square feet of meeting rooms, an outdoor pool, tennis courts, an RV campground and more while retaining the chapel, a pavilion, a sand volleyball court and an aging restroom building. The draft 2025 plans add or update restroom facilities, one or two pavilions and river overlooks.
2. Impervious surface — the total of the land that would have an impervious surface (think anywhere that rain can’t fall directly on the ground such as roads, roofs, sidewalks, paved parking areas, etc.) would be about 7.5 acres under the 2025 draft plans. This represents about four precent of the 227 acres and is significantly improved from when the Methodist Church had many buildings on the property.
3. Parking spaces — there were over 330 parking spaces on the property when the county purchased the conference center. The 2016 County Plan called for 211 spaces. And the draft 2025 plan recommends even fewer spaces, between 140 and 170 total spaces.
4. Trails — to increase access to the park for the disabled and for parents with strollers, the draft plans call for 1.6 to 1.9 miles of improved trails, but the majority of the ~8.5 miles of trails in the park would remain dirt.
5. Playground — in 2016, the county had a baseline requirement that every county park must have a traditional playground for younger visitors. While there was a small playground on the property when it was a conference center, the 2016 plan called for a new 35,000 square foot playground with a variety of play structures. As of 2025, a traditional playground is no longer a county requirement, and the draft plans have a “natural exploration area” for youngsters instead.
6. Dogs and a potential dog park — The number one complaint I hear from Simpsonwood Park visitors is dogs being off leash. While keeping your dog on a leash and picking up after them are already park rules, apparently some dog owners treat Simpsonwood Park as a 227-acre dog park and have gone so far as to tell other visitors “if you don’t like dogs running up to you, you should probably not come to Simpsonwood.” This is obviously unacceptable. It’s a violation of the park rules and disrespectful to other visitors. People should not have to carry mace spray to protect themselves from unleashed dogs in the park. Nor should hyper vigilance be required to avoid stepping in a pile of dog waste. It may seem counterintuitive, but some dog park advocates are saying that having a small, fenced area specifically for dogs within Simpsonwood Park will make it easier to enforce the “dogs must be on a leash” rules throughout the rest of the park.

Next steps

Once the Steering Committee completes their work later this year, the proposed plan will be reviewed by the Gwinnett Recreation Authority. You can share your thoughts with the Authority board members here.

You can find links to Councilmember Christ’s social media pages or sign up for his newsletter at linktr.ee/votechrist.

Peachtree Corners Magazine reported on the most recent Simpsonwood Park community meeting. You can find that article online here or in the February/March issue.