Lynwood Park Is Growing This Fall, and the New Acres Are Meant to Stay Wooded
District 1 Councilmember Michael Diaz described a loss he had seen just outside Lynwood Park. "Having witnessed the recent loss of mature trees at the nearby Devine Circle due to development, I know how deeply our community values its tree canopy," he said in the City of Brookhaven's October announcement. "While we cannot undo those losses, these acquisitions will expand Lynwood Park by nearly two acres, preserving dozens of mature trees."
The acquisitions he means are two lots on the edges of the park at 3360 Osborne Road. Neither lot will get a building. That makes this a new kind of growth for Lynwood Park. The last time the city spent serious money here, it built a pool, a splash pad and a turf field. This time the city bought trees, and the point is to leave them alone.
On Oct. 13, 2026, the Brookhaven City Council voted to purchase 1020 Mendell Circle. The lot is about 1.3 acres and sits next to Lynwood Park. The City says the purchase will "expand the footprint of Lynwood Park" and protect the land "from future redevelopment." It follows a late-2024 purchase of 926 Devine Circle, about half an acre. Together the two lots add roughly 1.8 acres to a park the City lists at 10.8 acres. That's about 17% more ground.
The City counted 30 to 40 specimen trees on the Mendell Circle lot and named them by species:
The City says the lot also has plants in the understory, midstory and overstory.
Long-time park users will remember a different kind of growth. Voters approved Brookhaven's $40 million parks bond on Nov. 6, 2018. According to Rough Draft Atlanta's 2020 coverage of the master plan, about $11 million of that went to Lynwood Park. Roughly $5 million was for water features. About $6 million was for a pool house and restrooms, a turf athletic field and other items in the plan.
The plan changed along the way. Rough Draft reported in 2019 that the parks bond committee dropped a controversial lazy river. The revised design replaced it with a splash pad of about 4,200 square feet and a four-lane pool, two to five feet deep, built for both lap and recreational swimming. The Champion reported that two parking areas were also added to the Lynwood Park master plan.
The AJC reported that the renovation carried nearly $9.3 million in construction contracts. Ground broke on Jan. 6, 2022, and according to The Champion, the recreation center, basketball courts, tennis courts and playground stayed open during the work. In its 2023 recap, the City says the park reopened that year with the new lap pool, splash pad and turf field.
Here are the two rounds of growth side by side:
| Bond-era rebuild | 2024–2026 land purchases | |
|---|---|---|
| Money | About $11 million allocated from the 2018 parks bond | $750,000 for Mendell Circle, from the Stormwater Fund and Tree Fund |
| What it added | Lap pool, splash pad, turf field, plus planned pool house, pavilions and parking | About 1.8 acres of existing woodland |
| Timeline | Groundbreaking January 2022, reopened 2023 | Devine Circle in late 2024, Mendell Circle approved Oct. 13, 2026 |
| Stated purpose | Recreation facilities | Greenspace, tree canopy, stormwater |
The first round put about $11 million into the park's facilities. The second costs a small fraction of that and adds land to a park whose built facilities were already finished.
Where the money came from tells you what the purchase is for. The Mendell Circle lot is paid for from Brookhaven's Stormwater Fund and Tree Fund, not from a parks construction budget. The City gives three reasons for the purchase: preserving greenspace, protecting tree canopy, and supporting "stormwater mitigation efforts in District 1." City Arborist Jeff Dadisman explained why the existing trees matter in the same City release:
"Preserving a stand of mature trees protects benefits that cannot be quickly replaced by new plantings, including shade, habitat and natural stormwater functions."
The new acres do a job just by standing there. The trees soak up rain and shade the ground, and owning the land keeps that stand from being cleared, which is what Diaz says happened nearby on Devine Circle.
What the City hasn't announced is how people will use the land. Brookhaven Local Today reported that the City had not said when the Mendell Circle lot would open to the public or whether it would get paths. No plans or access date have been announced for the Devine Circle lot either. For now, treat both lots as protected woods at the park's edge, not new trails. The City's facility page for Lynwood Park lists a basketball court, community center, greenspace, mixed-use field, picnic shelter, playground, swimming pool and tennis court.
The City also ties the purchase to the history of the community the park is named for. Its release describes Historic Lynwood Park as established in the early 1930s and calls the Lynwood Park Recreation Center and the park around it "important gathering places" for residents, families and returning generations. Keeping the Mendell lot undeveloped protects the setting around that landmark as well as the trees.
The built-up park is about to get a crowd. Brookhaven rained out its Paint the Park event in early October and moved the makeup date to Lynwood Park, the City announced on Oct. 2. So the park's turf, shelter and grounds will host a citywide event days after the Council voted to make the park bigger.
The fall dates, in order:
The recreation center also runs other free drop-ins, including "Walk and Talk" and adult basketball runs. The City keeps the current times on its Parks and Recreation drop-in activities page. The pool runs on a summer schedule. In the 2026 season the recreation center sold pool memberships, and Rough Draft listed hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Brookhaven released its proposed 2027 budget on Oct. 27. It includes a $6.2 million capital budget. The highlighted items are $2 million for pavement management, sidewalk and ADA work, the Windsor/Ashford Dunwoody Road roundabout, street-sign replacement, and continued work on the Peachtree Creek Greenway and Peachtree Creek Connector Bridge. Lynwood Park isn't on that highlighted list. The full proposal is posted at BrookhavenGA.gov/budget.
If you have a view on what should happen at the park's edges, there are two more public chances to say so before adoption. District 2 Councilman Connor Sen holds a community meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 6 to 7 p.m. at City Centre, 4001 Peachtree Road NE. The final public hearing is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the same address, with virtual participation available. The Council will consider adopting the budget after that hearing. Written comments go to [email protected].
For more on how Brookhaven has been spending on its parks this year, see our earlier look at Brookhaven Park's busy fall. Our Brookhaven neighborhood page collects more local coverage.
Mature trees affect how a house feels from the street and from the windows, and that's hard to recreate once they're gone. If you live near Lynwood Park and are thinking about how your lot, your trees and your house fit together, Darron O'Bonnon offers a design-forward consultation that pairs a home valuation with a staging plan built around what your property already has.
Whether you're in the research phase at the beginning of your real estate search or know exactly what you're looking for, you'll benefit from having a real estate professional.