Friday, January 25, 2002
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Friday, January 25, 2002 |
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Arts center grounbreaking set for Feb. The Coweta County Board of Education and the city of Newnan finalized a joint property agreement last week, which outlines the responsibilities of the two governments for construction and management of the joint site for the school system's Fine Arts Center and the city's Conference Center, on Lower Fayetteville Road in Newnan. The two boards approved the agreement during a called joint meeting at 7:30 a.m. last Friday at the Board of Education building on Jackson Street. The short meeting followed a week of negotiations between the Board and the city's Convention Center Authority over the details of the agreement. The agreement completes the last step in the city and school board's negotiations, and paves the way for the construction of the school system's 999-seat Fine Arts Center. School officials said the project will start immediately, with site clearance bids to be accepted in early February and a groundbreaking to be held soon thereafter. The site's building areas will be cleared and graded as a joint city-school board project to save project costs. The property agreement divides the 40.24-acre Lower Fayetteville Road site into three contiguous parts - a 9.24-acre school system site for the arts center and related parking, a 10.15-acre site owned by the city of Newnan for the city's future Conference Center and related projects, and jointly-owned portion including the common entranceway from Lower Fayetteville, a central "village green" area, and other landscaped and undisturbed greenspace areas. The arts center and city projects are separate projects, but are intended to complement one another and save both governments tax dollars through joint agreements. The buildings will share the Lower Fayetteville Road campus, a common central greenspace, and will follow a common exterior architectural theme. "I think that overall it was nice to be able to come up with an agreement that was acceptable to both the city and board members, and I think that everyone in this county will benefit from this project," said board member Allan Payton. "I also look forward to seeing our students performing there as we go forward with construction of the Arts Center," he said. Payton added that the Fine Arts Center is the last major project under the current Education Local Option Sales Tax.
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