The White County Board of Commissioners this week got an update on plans for the new county recreation center. The county is going to build the facility at Yonah Preserve next to the current ballfields.
Rachel Gibson of BCA Studios in Gainesville, the architectural firm designing the new facility, and CJ McDonald of Charles Black Construction, the construction management group spearheading the project, attended the June 26 meeting to update commissioners.
Gibson said the new facility will be 40,000 square feet. It will house two full-sized basketball/volleyball courts, a community room, and parks and recreation offices.
By installing a backup generator, the county can use the facility as an emergency shetler if needed.
Commissioners are building the facility with future growth and expansion in mind. White County Commission Chair Travis Turner said possibly one day they can double the size of the facility.
“This building is going to be built so that a future board of commissioners can turn around and mirror this on the back side,” he said during Monday night’s meeting.
As crews do the grading, the county is looking ahead to possibly developing an open-air arena.
“While we are moving dirt, we are going ahead and kind of killing three birds with one stone,” he said.
Gibson shared with the commissioners they should have the construction documents ready sometime in August and look to a late fall groundbreaking for the project.
