The Cornelia City Commission is pursuing its options for building a park with an amphitheater downtown. Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with a plan to pursue grant funding for the project.
The city will enlist the services of the Georgia Regional Mountain Commission (GMRC) to file an application for grant funding through the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
Cornelia City Manager Dee Anderson explained to commissioners the process and fees.
“There’s no charge for preparing the grant application; however, if we do receive the funding, the fee would be $25,000 to administer the grant on our behalf,” he told them.
Determining what kind of funding might be available is the first step in determining whether the project is feasible.
“We are in the real early stages of trying to figure out if this is going to be a good idea or not,” Cornelia Mayor John Borrow said. “To figure out if this is going to be a good idea, we need to see if we are going to have any grant money to do this.”
A ‘great asset’ to Cornelia
Currently, Cornelia holds concerts that draw large crowds in the parking lot of the old Grogan Chevrolet dealership on South Main Street. This requires the city to provide shuttle service to and from the venue site.
The new location would be adjacent to the historic railroad depot, where the city has public parking just a short walk away. The proposed location is also farther away from residential areas and closer to the city’s entertainment district.
Borrow says the project holds great promise.
“(This could be) something that could be a great asset to Cornelia. You could have some sort of series that could come through the summer. You could have jazz, bluegrass, and gospel, or whatever. Churches want to get together and do something (like) have a national day of prayer there. It could be anything,” he said.
The city commission did not discuss a timeline for when the grant application must be filed.
