A project that started over a year ago has finally been completed.
The final plans for Greene County’s Vision 2020 were unveiled to the steering committee Monday. The project plans have changed slightly over the time period of when the steering committee first laid its eyes on the estimated $46 million list in October of 2017. Moderator and McClure Engineering Principal Planner Zach Mannheimer says since then, there have been changes made to that list.
“A large piece of that was the (Greene County) school bond (referendum) which has now passed. So we kind of hit ‘pause’ waiting to see where that would land (and) obviously it landed where we hoped it would. And then we picked it back up and we reconfigured a lot of the projects and we ended up combining several of them.”
With most of the projects staying basically the same, the biggest change was the idea of a 3-Block Revitalization Project near downtown Jefferson. Plans include building and/or expanding the current Greene County Early Learning Center facility, installing a splash pad and playground area, renovating the current middle school into an apartment complex, closing Harrison Street and turning that into a “green space” and building an indoor water park next to the Greene County Community Center.
All total, the remaining projects cost an estimated $7.1 million, and with the passing of the $21.48 million bond referendum, that’s a total of less than $30 million. Greene County Development Corporation President Sid Jones says the money figures aren’t finalized but they are better than where they started.
“We just need to get open minded here. Does it cost money? Absolutely. As a community of Greene County does it make sense? Does it give us the opportunity to get on a radar screen for a millennial generation that I believe is getting tired of living in the city. And (they are tired) of raising their kids in too competitive of an environment in their school system and not having the opportunities to participate in sports, music, play, drama and everything that our kids do.”
To access a list of each project, and the plans laid out for each project, click the link below.