Grovetown plans community center

Grovetown is looking for an architect to design the city's newest community center.

Liberty Park on Newmantown Road already has a walking track with exercise stations and four baseball fields, but city officials want to add a gymnasium and community center to the site.

"(The park) gets quite a bit of use," Grovetown Mayor Dennis Trudeau said.

The Grovetown City Council recently approved to hire an architect to design the building.

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Trudeau said he expects the design to be a multipurpose building that includes offices, small meeting rooms and a gymnasium with a basketball court.

"Columbia County has engineers for ideas," City Councilman David Daughtry said. "We don't. I think it is probably the best for us to start with an architect to get us headed in the right direction."

Trudeau estimated the total cost of the building, including more lighting down the walking trail, to be about $1.5 million. County officials have set aside $500,000 for the project.

The city also will apply for grant money from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Community Affairs, Trudeau said.

"We'll ask everybody for their nickles and dimes," he said.