The Habersham County Commission has hired an engineering firm from Lawrenceville to begin work on two highly-anticipated SPLOST projects: a new animal shelter and centralized emergency services headquarters.
The board of commissioners unanimously voted during their Monday night meeting to award Croft and Associates contracts for the new Habersham County Animal Care and Control and Habersham County Emergency Services buildings. The firm will provide building design, construction documents and construction management services.
Croft beat out four other firms for the emergency services project including Place Services, Inc., Precision Planning, Hussey Gay Bell, and Lyman, Davidson, Dooley. Lyman and Place also bid on the animal shelter, as did JMA Architecture. Commissioners decided to go with Croft because they said the company has experience building emergency services and animal care facilities.
“This company has built these kinds of facilities before,” said Habersham County Commission Chair Bruce Palmer. “It’s not just a general engineering company.”
Croft’s services for the emergency services facility is estimated to cost $440,000 dollars: For the HCACC facility, it is estimated to cost $181,000.
The county says that the company could break ground on the facilities following the completion of the architectural services phase, which is projected to wrap up within four to six months of starting.
Tennis court resurfacing on hold
The commission was also slated to vote on awarding a proposal for resurfacing two tennis courts at the Ruby C. Fulbright Aquatic Center into pickleball courts, but after a heated discussion and public comments from citizens, the county commission decided to hold off on accepting that proposal.
Tennis players voiced their concerns once again that repaving those two tennis courts would negatively affect tennis players and court availability in the county, and at least seven individuals urged the commission to reconsider their plans during public comment.
READ MORE: Pickleball and tennis players react to county’s decision on resurfacing courts
The bid the county was advised to move forward with was one from Woodstock-based company Signature Tennis Courts, which would cost the county a total of $88,738. After reviewing three total proposals, Signature Tennis Courts was the lowest bidder for the project.
Following the comments the commission heard, though, they decided to table the decision until their next meeting to further investigate their options for the courts. They will make a decision by their next meeting, with the current bid for the courts expiring in 60 days.
