UGA Student Makes Presentation to Toccoa Officials

A University of Georgia student suggests landscape and other aesthetic improvements to Toccoa.

Thursday, Toccoa business and government leaders heard from UGA landscape architecture student Megan Hull.

Hull worked on projects for the city through UGA’s Downtown Renaissance Fellowship.

Through the fellowship, Hull worked with the city on landscape designs and signage for a number of city properties.

She said her goal was to take ideas from Toccoa Planning Director Connie Tabor and others and put them on paper.

“My job was to take her ideas and what I heard and develop them into imagery that they could use for marketing or continue to develop,” said Hull. “My idea was to keep it simple, keep it small town.”

Hull looked at a host of areas, including the Lake Toccoa area, Henderson Falls Park, Emory Johnson Park, the Currahee Street corridor, and downtown.

Her ideas included new signage, landscaping, and trees to beautify entranceways to try and beautify entranceways into the city and highlight some of the best features of these areas.

She said her goal was not to replace things in place, but add to them in a selective way to highlight what is already there.

Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said the city appreciates the work that Hull put in and notes that some of her ideas are already being implemented where feasible.

“She has done an outstanding job,” said Morse. “She has taken our ideas and made them better.”

The Downtown Renaissance Fellowship was a ten-week partnership among Toccoa, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the UGA College of Environment and Design, and the Georgia Municipal Association.

Toccoa is one of three cities involved in the program this summer.

The others are Chamblee and Statesboro.