Fayetteville is set to receive

$72,736 from the state to help make it greener.

The city was awarded the money

recently through the Georgia Greenspace Program and the City Council authorized

Mayor Kenneth Steele to sign the grant agreement at Thursday night's regular

council meeting.

The purpose of the statewide

grant program is "to promote the adoption in developed and rapidly

developing areas of the state of policies, rules and regulations which

will have the effect of preserving at least 20 percent of the land area

as connected and open greenspace which can be utilized for informal recreational

activities and protection of natural resources," according to the

statute which created the program.

The money does come with a

few stipulations. The city must use the funds for the purchase of property

within Fayette County, and all of the money must be spent within 24 months.

The Georgia Department of Natural

Resources, which oversees the greenspace program, is to be kept up to

date on land purchases and any money not spent at the end of the 24-month

period must be returned to DNR.

City Manager Joe Morton said

after Thursday night's meeting that the first project to be undertaken

with these funds is the purchase of land under the settlement agreement

with Dr. P.K. Dixon which was also approved at the same meeting.

This agreement, which ends

several years of litigation, calls for the city to purchase nearly 100

acres of land from the Dixon tract, and Dixon is then to donate about

188 acres of flood plain to the city some time after that. Part of the

Dixon tract also contains a portion of the Lakeside on Redwine subdivision

now under consideration by the Planning and Zoning Commission for annexation,

per a request by John Wieland Homes, the developer of Lakeside.

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