Sharpsburg parking lot fosters community | News

“We have made a direct investment into the community and our residents by improving the park, by improving (the community center),” Cole said. “This is our SPLOST investment right here.”

The town spent the majority of its special purpose local option sales tax proceeds on the parking lot in the last few years — more than $121,000 of its $146,303 in SPLOST 2019 expenditures, according to records provided by the city.

But just as importantly, the city used its partnership with Coweta County for the project, Cole said. In fact, the last payment made on the project for $81,945 was made to Coweta County and Blount Construction.

“We used their expertise and their experience and materials and labor,” he said. “It was just so efficient, financially efficient.”

The county provided the labor to grade and pave the parking lot, helped the town meet environmental regulations and did the bidding for materials, Cole said.

But that is just phase one of the work on the town complex, which consists of the park, the recreation building, town hall, the parking lot and other assorted buildings bordering the developed properties, he said. Sharpsburg was also able to purchase a home next door to the park, the Beckom property. The home will be razed and the property repurposed in the future, Cole said.

Additionally, he said he’d like to be able to put in a path from the community center to the city’s library. Although the library is only a short distance away, it isn’t visible from…