County Hears About Possibility To Purchase Land For Public Recreation Forest

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The September meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners featured a lengthy discussion about potentially purchasing property on the side of Lookout Mountain along GA-136 East. A representative from the Trust for Public Land gave a presentation about this land and grant opportunities. Although Melissa Bradford (District Four commissioner) and Lamar Lowery (District One commissioner) were absent, the board still had a quorum.

First, the board reappointed Richard Stephens to the Board of Assessors for a three-year term and appointed Phyllis Baker to the Department of Family and Children Services Board to fulfill the unexpired term of Tinena Bice who decided to step down.

Ansel Smith (Trenton-Dade assistant fire chief) gave an update on the remodeling of Dade County Fire Department Station Four and requested an additional $45,000 in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and $11,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to complete the project.

The firefighters have put in over 100 hours of labor on the project. The remodeling includes three new bedrooms and an office, an expanded kitchen space, and repairs to water damaged areas.

Smith reported that the previously approved $15,000 has been used, but unexpected expenses total $45,000, and the lowest HVAC proposal (which has the best warranty) came in at $11,000 from 72 Degrees Air Conditioning and Heating. He explained that the project scope has not been expanded; they simply estimated too low.

His presentation read, “The area being remodeled is 1,600 square feet, which results in a cost of $37.50 per square foot for a complete remodel, with us handling 90 percent of the work. For comparison, a full gut renovation typically costs between $60 and $150+ per square foot.”

The commission approved both the SPLOST and ARPA requests.

On behalf of the Dade County Water and Sewer Authority, Elizabeth Zeller (general manager) requested a total of $274,905.64 from the water authority’s SPLOST allocation. This covers the water main relocation, pump purchases, and waterline upgrade covered in last week’s Sentinel, as well as a new server for the water authority’s office.

Final touches on the historic courthouse project continue, with Ted Rumley (county executive) noting that they hope to have a ribbon cutting to celebrate completion by Thanksgiving.

Noel Durant (Tennessee State Director of Trust for Public Land) then presented information about acquiring land that could become a “Dade County Community Forest.” Phillip Hartline (District Two commissioner) has been talking with Durant about the project for about three months.

Readers may recall that during the July commission meeting, Rumley noted that the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust acquired 648 acres on the side of Lookout Mountain that surround Highway 136 and border Cloudland Canyon. The land trust put an end to the deforestation that had been happening on the land.

Trust for Public Land proposes helping the county attain the land, with cooperation from Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, by applying for state and federal grants. Durant explained that Trust for Public Land acts as the buyer and handles the grants before the land changes hands to the county.

In order to apply for several grant opportunities, the county must commit to a matching $500,000. The anticipated total price is $1.82 million, with the remaining $1.32 million coming from grants.

Durant said, “We see that so many times, communities like Dade County have an outdoor recreation attraction, like Cloudland Canyon State Park…but very little tourism tax revenue comes to Dade County….having more outdoor recreation amenities, more opportunities, will keep people in Dade County longer and provide more opportunities for them to spend their dollars here.”

His presentation included the following statistics:

• “From 2010-2016, Dade County residents experienced a 3.1 percent increase in average earnings per job, while the nearby recreation community of Pickens County saw an 18.1 percent increase in average earnings per job.”
• “A 2021 study of eight local parks in Mississippi showed 60,000 visitors annually created nearly $4.5 million in economic impact.”
• “If Dade County had a community forest that drew just one in ten of the 400,000+ annual visitors to Cloudland Canyon State Park, the community forest could generate close to $3 million in economic impact. This type of multiple-offering outdoor recreation asset could extend visitor stays in Dade County, bringing them into the central business district and driving increased economic activity.”

Durant presented several possible timeline scenarios, all of which are two to three years long.

Rumley said there is a lot that Robin Rogers (county attorney) will need to look into, but nothing immediately stood out to Rogers that would make this acquisition impossible.

Robert Goff (District Three commissioner) explained that for him personally, he is aware that his decision about this would impact the next commission, naming Bob Woods who will be taking Goff’s seat come January.

Goff explained, “That’s what I think about, not tying the hands of another commission by agreeing to something that they’re starting out with a $500,000, perhaps more, debt.”

He added, “Two years ago, people were in here saying ‘They’re logging the side of the mountain, they’re gonna clear cut the side of the mountain, it’s gonna fall off,’ blaming it on us. Now we do have an opportunity to make sure that’s never done.”

Hartline reported that his stipulations to agree to the project are that no sites on the land be carved out for home construction, etc. “If we’re buying it, we’re buying it all,” he said.

He suggests using ARPA funds and hotel/motel tax revenue as much as possible, with any remainder coming from SPLOST. He said, “I feel like this gives us a good opportunity to give back to the people of the community and give them somewhere to go.”

He said both State Senator Colton Moore and State Representative Mike Cameron support this project.

Rumley said they will fill Bradford and Lowery in on the proposition, Rogers will look into legal questions, and the commission will return to the topic next meeting. Because one of the grants must be applied for by the end of October, the commission will need to make a decision at next month’s meeting.

Rumley quickly touched on the elections building, saying that the county’s focus was on completing the train depot rather than the elections building. The depot’s new occupants have just moved in last week and this week.

The commission approved the amendment to the Subdivision Essential Services Ordinance (see the Aug. 7 Sentinel for details from the first reading of the amendment) and approved applying for a Federal Transit Administration grant.

Paula Duvall (Chief Appraiser of the Board of Assessors) reported that the “2023 State-Wide Equalization 100 Percent Digest and Dade County Sales Ratio Study” has been prepared by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, and she requested that the commission appeal the residential COD (coefficient of dispersion).

The ratio shows how well the property values in the county line up with actual sale prices. As Duvall has explained in previous years, the state uses current year sales, but the county uses previous year sales, resulting in the residential COD not aligning.

She told the commission, “We disagree with this number. We want to be able to tell our side of the story.” The commission approved the appeal.

During Citizens Participation, General Bob Woods recommended a sound system upgrade, saying that some citizens in the back of the commission room were having trouble hearing the meeting. Alex Case (EMA director) said new equipment has arrived but has not yet been installed.

Don Townsend (CFO, county clerk, future county executive) also spoke as a citizen, thanking the community for supporting him in the primary election and saying he looks forward to working with the commissioners. He asked the commission to begin searching for a new county clerk, a position that is appointed by all five commissioners.

Townsend explained that he filled two roles: county clerk and CFO, but he believes it is too much work for one person. Therefore, he recommended splitting the roles once more. For the CFO role, he strongly recommended Rebecca Jones (deputy county clerk).

Lastly, Dr. William Pullen Jr. (known as “Doc”) spoke regarding the potential land purchase. He said his statements are neither negative or positive (not necessarily for or against the purchase), but that there is much to think about and many questions that need to be considered.

From Doc’s experience dealing with Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, he’s learned that details matter to the land trust. He said, “I think there’s a lot of questions to be answered before we jump into this, and it may be a great thing…I just hope we hear more about it.”

During his report, Rumley noted that the bridge work at GA-136 East is now anticipated to take two years, and GDOT will build a two-lane temporary bridge (rather than the previously planned one-lane/stoplight temporary bridge). Rumley thinks this is GDOT’s final decision.

Noting the recent train versus van accident at the Morgan Road railroad crossing, Rumley said that GDOT is in charge of all railroad crossings, so he will be meeting with GDOT about getting crossing arms at Morgan Road. He said, “I don’t understand the reasoning of why the cars were hit, because if you go to this crossing, you’ve got probably a thousand feet both ways or farther as far as visibility. It’s not like in a curve. But they’re gonna come up and survey.”

He added that Norfolk Southern will be working on some crossings in the county that will be closed for 72 hours. Once the county has an updated schedule of these closings, they will post them online and mention them in the KWN News Now segments.

The 911 report was not read, but it is available online. August calls totaled 3,641:

• EMS: 233
• Fire & Rescue: 396
• Law Enforcement: 3,012