A hidden gem, Macon opens a new park, Cliffview Lake Park

"This is a place that we have the opportunity to bring our kids, bring our families, friends, and just relax," said Paul Bronson, District 2 Commissioner of Macon-Bibb County.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A new park is now open in Macon as a ribbon cutting was held today for, as many who were involved with the project put it, a hidden gem, Cliffview Lake Park.

Located at 606 Cliffview Drive, $1.8 million worth improvements have been made to the park with the funding coming from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

Improvements including a new pavilion, trails, fishing pier, and various other things to the surrounding area.

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller says the lake has been hidden for years and many people didn’t even know it was there.

“Grandparents live right there on the street there at Bruce never really knew what Cliffview Lake was. So we got our staff and our team and started driving around and I said, where’s the lake at? So we drove around. It was a house right here, in my opinion, blighted. There were some illegal dumps in the area and we couldn’t really see the lake, so we had to get some, all terrain vehicles and come out here and kind of ride the area and I won’t tell you what happened to those vehicles, but it wasn’t a very pretty sight to go through,” said Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller.

“This is a place that we have the opportunity to bring our kids, bring our families, friends, and just relax. Have an opportunity to enjoy nature, fish, walk, and the health benefits that follow behind that,” said Paul Bronson, District 2 Commissioner of Macon-Bibb County.

“I think this is a testament in itself to show the power of your vote, the power of making your voices heard, to say, hey, we want something better for our community. We want a better, healthier community. In just this one vote that we did. You see? You see the fruits of it, right?,” he said.

“We knew that we really had a gem in this property and it was hidden back here, but why this was a gem was because this could be something that turns the tide of a neighborhood that had been crying out for assistance for a long time,” said Alex Morrison, Director of Planning and Public Spaces for Macon-Bibb County and Executive Director of Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority.

“The design of the park centered around preserving the natural beauty that you can all see that exists out here already today. So we really wanted to open it up with trails through the wooded areas, access to the pond down there for fishing and that type of thing. Keeping the design really simple and just enhancing what was already here, said Laurie Fickling, Landscape Architect.

Her mother, Shannon Fickling, was the architect for the pavilion and fishing pier.

Mayor Miller says Former Macon-Bibb County Mayor C. Jack Ellis, who was also in attendance for the ceremony, wanted to do something with the land many years ago and glad he was here to see it and that they have also purchased 10 acres of land near the area and plan to build housing to further develop to revitalize the community.