DALTON, Ga. — Within the next decade, Edwards Park in the north end of Whitfield County could become the equivalent of the Heritage Point/Dalton Middle School complex that occupies a large tract of land off the North Dalton Bypass.

But it could offer even more to the area’s residents.

Work is scheduled to begin in May of 2019 on a new North Whitfield Middle School complex on 60 acres of land abutting the existing Edwards Park recreation complex. At Monday night’s county Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioners agreed to donate land for a proposed $4 million aquatics center, and proponents of the facility would like it to be placed at Edwards Park. In August of last year, the park added a new community center with offices, meeting rooms, classrooms and two gymnasiums, and with the addition of an aquatics center and an adjacent middle school, the area would be an even bigger hub of activity.

“North Whitfield Middle will be huge for us,” said Whitfield County Recreation Department Director Brian Chastain. “That is a game-changer for this area. We partner well with the schools anyway, and if they decide to place an aquatics center here as well, you are talking about a ton of positive upgrades to the facility and for the quality of the experience at the park. You would add a third gym in the area, and the new school would have ready-made facilities for football, baseball and tennis as well as everything else the park offers.”

The county Board of Education approved a preliminary purchase agreement in December for 60 acres of land from Plainview Developers Inc. for $619,998. The officers of Plainview Developers Inc. are Henrietta S. Planzer, Greg D. Planzer and Richard I. Planzer, according to Henrietta S. Planzer, who is the president. According to the Whitfield County Tax Accessor’s online records, the 60 acres is part of a 100-acre parcel with a “fair market value” of $192,452. The final sale is dependent on the approval of an intergovernmental agreement between the school system and the county and final approval of the sale by the school board. The sale cleared a major hurdle on Monday when the school board received approval of the site by the Georgia Department of Education.

“Comparatively, when you are looking at per acres costs, it is pretty good compared to other projects in the area,” said Mike Ewton, Whitfield County Schools assistant superintendent of operations.

Construction on new middle schools to replace aging buildings at both North Whitfield and Valley Point was originally scheduled to begin at the end of this school year and be completed by 2020. Combined, the cost of the schools is projected at more than $50 million with the cost covered as part of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax V (ESPLOST) which voters approved last year. With the construction of the two new middle schools in the county and the construction of a new 6/7 grades school by Dalton Public Schools, roughly $100 million in construction is being brought into the economy during the next three years.

While the Valley Point project will proceed on schedule, North Whitfield will be a year behind and will not be completed until 2021.

Power lines across the existing North Whitfield location made that location problematic, according to Ewton. Because of state Department of Education rules on new construction, students can’t be housed in facilities that are within 300 feet of existing power lines, meaning the area for new construction was restricted. Ewton said other plans considered couldn’t be accommodated without disrupting the school day during construction.

“We thought we could make that happen, but with the power lines, it took away most of the area and would have been too difficult,” Ewton said. “We looked at everything. It could have been done, but it would have been very difficult logistically.”

Instead, the school system is turning to a location a little more than a mile north of the current campus on Cleveland Highway on land which is on the southern border of Edwards Park.

“It has a lot of potential,” Ewton said. “Location was one of the deciding factors. We needed to be in that general area, and then you start looking for what is available. We were happy we were able to work out a contract on that property.”

General plans for the site include an entrance to the property where Maple Grove Road currently ends at Cleveland Highway with the access road going parallel to Cleveland Highway and connecting to Edwards Park. Plans also call for a traffic light at the new intersection.

“The new road coming in is a real game-changer,” Chastain said, noting that at peak times, leaving the park can be a problem because of a lack of traffic control. “It will give us another way in and out of the park and will give us options for traffic.”

Ewton said it will also provide better traffic control than at the current North Whitfield location.

Even though the park and the new school are not in the city limits of Varnell, City Manager Mike Brown said the prospect of the upgrades at the park and the new construction in the area would be a benefit to the city and the entire north end of the county.

No timeline from the county has been placed on the aquatics center other than a commitment from the board to donate the land for it and to operate and maintain it. Citizens who approached the board about the project have pledged to raise the $4 million for construction.

“It would benefit Varnell greatly if they built an aquatic center, and I know that is something that is really needed for the local schools who have to share the pool at Dalton High,” Brown said. “I think it is something that the county really needs. It would put people more in the stores and restaurants up here. Rumor is there is a Hardee’s that is talking of building near Sutton Pharmacy, and there are several areas for sale that would be great for business.”