Fayette County is now officially

a part of Gov. Roy Barnes' green space program.

County commissioners last week

voted unanimously to accept $415,454 in state funding to buy and preserve

park lands in the county, and in doing so made a long-term commitment

to set aside 20 percent of county land area as green space.

In light of the commitment,

the initial grant is a drop in the bucket, but commissioners said they

hope the county money can be pooled with grants to local cities. "That

way we can make larger and more significant buys of property," said

Commissioner Greg Dunn.

The cities already have agreed

to participate in the program. Peachtree City will receive $229,819, Fayetteville

$70,423, Tyrone $32,874, Brooks $3,996 and Woolsey $1,432, for a total

of $754,000.

Another catch in the program

is that use of the money is restricted, said county planner Pete Frisina.

"These dollars can only be used for purchasing the property. The

county will be responsible for maintenance, or 'stewardship' of the property,"

Frisina told commissioners.

The way the program is designed,

the county and cities will work together to identify areas that are likely

candidates for preservation, and to develop a plan to reach the program's

goals.

Dunn suggested that in each

year funds are made available, the county and cities also coordinate efforts

so that in a given year, all of the money might be spent on one or two

projects.

"I just don't think we're

going to get good quality projects unless we cross the boundaries,"

he said.

Commissioner Glen Gosa said

it's a shame that much of the county's current green space won't be counted

in meeting the program's goals. "There couldn't be a more spectacular

and exemplary form of use of green space than Peachtree City has,"

he said in a previous commission discussion. Yet the city's network of

parks and golf cart paths might not be counted due to technicalities,

he added.

Frisina said only 239 acres

in unincorporated Fayette currently can be counted, but more may be added

merely by taking legal steps to ensure that it never will be developed.

And public access is necessary

as well, something of a Catch-22, Dunn remarked. "You have to have

public access, and yet pathways and trails don't count," he said.

Following previous discussions,

Frisina met with county and city officials to put together a coordinated

plan that will be presented to the Georgia Greenspace Commission and the

Department of Natural Resources for approval, unlocking the funds.

Neither Fayette nor its cities

will be required to put up matching funds to receive the grants, but Frisina

cautioned that the state money is not intended to fully fund the projects.

Other funding might come from private sources, corporate donations and

the like, he said.

Gosa pointed out an example.

The Two Rivers project plans to begin collecting land this fall to apply

toward the green space program, he said.

A major component of the program

is preservation and protection of wetlands, stream and lake banks to prevent

erosion and pollution. Frisina said wetlands and buffer areas around streams

and lakes, which can't be developed anyway, will be the logical first

target for the preservation efforts.

The Two Rivers project includes

plans for hundreds of miles of trails and buffers along the Flint, Chattahoochee

and Appalachicola rivers, Gosa said, quipping that the work is "expected

to take approximately 153 years to complete. And I say 'Lord, just let

me live long enough to complete this one project.'"