Fayette County

and local cities will receive $685,537 for green space projects in fiscal

year 2002, according to an announcement last week.

It's the third

installment in a program that is expected to span decades. Local governments

received a little over $700,000 in the first grants in fiscal 2000, slightly

less than that in 2001.

The Georgia

Greenspace Commission approved the grants under the Georgia Community

Greenspace Program during a meeting last week in Atlanta.

Fayette County

will receive $341,740, Fayetteville $72,736, Peachtree City $241,995 and

Tyrone $29,066.

The funds will

help the local governments acquire and permanently protect green space.

Goal of the state program is preservation of 20 percent of the total acreage

in participating metro Atlanta counties.

"Fast-growing

counties throughout Georgia report that they have begun to protect flood

plains, neighborhood recreation areas, trail corridors and other special

sites," said Gov. Roy Barnes in announcing the grants. "They

understand how important livable neighborhoods are to their economic success."

In all, 40

Georgia counties were eligible to participate in the Georgia Community

Greenspace Program in its first year. An additional 49 counties became

eligible during the current fiscal year. These counties must have a population

of at least 60,000 or an average annual growth rate of 800 people. The

General Assembly appropriated $30 million for grants to these governments

during this fiscal year.

The counties'

grant shares are proportional to their tax digests of residential real

property. "These counties have made a wide variety of accomplishments

during the first year of the program. They should be proud," said

Commission Chairman Clay Long.

As part of

its participation in the program, Fayette recently enacted a "conservation

subdivision" zoning category that grants developers more flexibility

on lot sizes in exchange for setting aside permanently protected open

space. The city of Fayetteville also has approved a separate zoning category.

Fayette also

has set aside 80 acres of donated property at Ga. Highway 74 and Redwine

Road, and has purchased 180 acres for a park, including about 30 acres

of undisturbed permanent green space, at Kenwood Road and Ga. Highway

279.

The county's

land use map and plans also have been revised to incorporate the goals

of the green space program.

If the program's

goals are realized, Fayette would preserve about 3,800 acres of its 19,000

acres for green space, something that won't be done overnight, said county

senior planner Pete Frisina. "It's going to be a lifetime of doing

this," he said.