COVINGTON, Ga. — County commissioners Tuesday approved using unallocated SPLOST funds to complete three recreation-related projects and begin work on a fourth.
However, officials did not give a timetable for any of the construction projects commissioners approved.
The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, March 15, to using $8.78 million in SPLOST funds for projects countywide.
The funding for all projects and equipment was coming from $18.5 million officials anticipate collecting in addition to the $50.5 million the county government originally stated would be collected from the voter-approved 2017 SPLOST, White said.
The Board of Commissioners approved the use of:
• $3.755 million to complete the proposed Westside Youth Facility project.
• $3 million to complete Spring Hill Park on Lower River Road at Mote Road.
• $1.125 million for construction of the second phase of the Senior Services department's planned expansion of its Turner Lake Park facility.
• $750,000 to complete the master plan buildout of the final phase of the Denny Dobbs Skate Park.
• $150,000 for purchase of equipment for a new fire truck for the county fire department.
WESTSIDE YOUTH FACILITY
A "Westside Youth Facility" was included on the list of projects on the 2017 SPLOST referendum. Finance Director Brittany White said the county originally had $495,000 and the finance and recreation departments were requesting $3.755 million to complete the funding.
Project manager Jeff Prine said he and parks department officials are working with District 3 Commissioner Alana Sanders to find a location for the project and create a plan.
District 2 Commissioner Demond Mason said he supported the project because it was "definitely needed" but asked why all other projects had master plans except the youth facility.
"I just want to make sure that we'll have a master plan in place so that the board will be able to see exactly what's going to happen, the citizens will be able to see, so that there won't be any surprises by anybody," Mason said.
"We'll be able to see the master plan of what that facility actually is going to look like before there's any construction that starts," he said.
Prine said Sanders has "a very deliberate idea of the concept of what she's looking for."
He said Sanders was working with the county Parks and Recreation Department "to look at options of where that facility might go over in her district."
"We're at the beginning of that process," he said.
Approval of the funding would lead to the county hiring a design consultant to work with Sanders and the parks staff to find an appropriate site. It would then bring the plan to the board for approval before finding a company to build it, Prine said.
Sanders had proposed a plan in early 2021 for a project that included a new community center and park on existing county-owned park land within the Fairview Estates subdivision off Fairview Road.
The plan was put on hold in part because of objections from Boys & Girls Club supporters who believed the funding was meant for a new club facility.
SPRING HILL PARK
The Spring Hill Park site is south of the Newton County Landfill and sits between Lower River Road on the west and the Yellow River on the east.
A master plan for the park includes construction of a 25-space, asphalt parking lot; a community building and pavilion; restrooms; community playground; new walking trails with exercise pods; and a multi-purpose community field.
Most of the cost includes construction of the community building and for site clearing.
District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan said residents had "been waiting a long time for" funding of a park in the area. He said the original amount reserved for the project, $495,000, would not have even completed the site grading.
Longtime area resident Frederick Johnson of Hwy. 162 thanked commissioners for approving the funding but now wanted to see the facility's construction.
"It looks like we're going to eventually get a Spring Hill Community Park," he said. "I want to thank y'all for making this, maybe, a reality."
SENIOR CENTER EXPANSION
The project is to include construction of a 3,000-square-foot addition to the existing facility near Turner Lake in Covington.
It will add two,1,000-square-foot activity rooms; male and female restrooms, and a connector between the buildings.
The project's SPLOST-funded first phase was completed in late 2020 and cost $1.7 million. It increased the Senior Center’s total space to almost 12,000 square feet and included a large fellowship hall and dining room with south side bay windows overlooking Turner Lake; new administrative offices; an expanded kitchen facility; and renovation of the original 6,500-square-foot building that included conversion of part of it into a media center and quilting room.
SKATE PARK COMPLETION
The second phase of the skateboard park in Denny Dobbs Park will complete the facility so that it covers 1.5 acres in the southwest Newton County park on Ga. Hwy. 212. Construction of the project’s 4,000-square-foot first phase was completed in mid-2021.
FIRE EQUIPMENT
Fire Chief Mike Conner said the money will be used to buy such equipment as hoses and firefighter air packs for a fire truck the department recently bought but was unable to equip with available funds.
