Columbia County Commissioners bought land on Hardy McManus Road with an eye toward developing a new park.
The commissioners voted March 30 to spend $6 million to buy the land at 4975 Hardy McManus Rd. It is 120 acres, and County Manager Scott Johnson said they bought all of it.
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“We had been looking for land in that area for some time,” Johnson said.
They wanted to create a park near the Riverwood neighborhood using SPLOST funds. A park for that area is also listed in the Vision 2035 plan.
Johnson said it will be what is called a “passive park,” similar to Gateway Park in Grovetown, with a playground, walking track, possibly a splash pad and a dog park. That will use the land that fronts William Few Parkway and is mostly flat and level.
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It gets challenging after that because the terrain changes to rolling hills, some 40 to 50 feet high.
Johnson said trying to level that land would be costly, so they came up with another idea.
“We are potentially going to use that topography to create a mountain bike type of track,” Johnson revealed.
It would complement the skatepark and BMX facility at Blanchard Woods Park.
A development company applied last year to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for a tax credit to build a multi-family, subsidized housing project.
Johnson said the company wanted to buy just a portion of the land but had not bought the property, so it was still available for the county to purchase.
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He said, “Obviously, we were concerned with high density housing being built there because of the traffic impact.”
The county is also concerned about traffic from the park and so is planning to use the William Few Parkway and Halali Farm Road sides of the land for entrances and exits.
The park will also have amenities like Gateway Park, including restrooms and picnic pavilions available to rent. The mountain bike park would be available to rent for competition events.
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The money is in tier two of the SPLOST funds, and available in late summer or early fall. When the funds are available the county will begin the design process.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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