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The long-planned W.T. Edmondson Park at Ridley Lake is expected to cost millions more than originally projected. 

The LaGrange City Council discussed the plans for the park during their work session on Tuesday morning. Assistant City Manager Bill Bulloch said costs for the park have skyrocketed since it was originally envisioned during the pandemic.

The park was originally projected to cost around $6.1 million, 

“Due to inflation, the estimates of about a $6 million project turned into a $10 to $11 million project. Hence the problem,” Bulloch said.

Not only does the city want to move forward with the project for the citizens of LaGrange and to honor the late Mayor Edmondson, but they also need to fulfill a decades-old grant requirement.

Bulloch explained that in 1982, the city received a Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant for then City Park, which was the predecessor to Sweetland Amphitheatre. At the time the park was used for baseball.

The grant requires that the funds be used for an accessible outdoor recreation facility in perpetuity. 

“Forever, that has to be utilized as a park and open to the public,” Bulloch said, which Sweetland doesn’t exactly comply. 

The issue was discovered during a five-year federal site audit, so a new park had to be identified to comply with the grant, which eventually led to the creation of the 44.8-acre Ridley Lake property off of Upper Big Springs Road and South Davis Road.

The city initially planned to use a $3 million George Outdoor Stewardship grant, which required matching funds, to pay for the project. About $100,000 was also donated to help pay for the park.

Bulloch said they are seeking additional grant opportunities to make up the difference, but the city needs to move forward with the project to lock in the prices they have already received, which are only expected to go up in the future.

The council agreed to move forward with the project using SPLOST VI funds to make up the difference.