Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night gave initial approval to spending $1.9 million to purchase 110 acres of undeveloped land to be incorporated into Heritage Park, located south of Farmington on U.S. 441.
The new purchase, when completed after the first of the year, will bring Heritage Park to 374 acres and add 579 feet of access to the Apalachee River, doubling the riverfront access in the park.
The 110 acres includes a pond and three miles of partially developed trails. The new trails will bring the total miles of trails in the park to more than 20.
The commissioners put the purchase of the new acreage on its consent agenda for final action at its meeting on Oct. 7.
The commissioners took that action after voting to authorize County Administrator Justin Kirouac to apply for a $3 million Conserve Georgia Grant through the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program.
The grant application will seek money for upgrades to Heritage Park, including purchase of the land, new trails and enhancements of existing trails, and new parking, restrooms, and fencing.
Also at the meeting on Tuesday, the commissioners put on their consent agenda awarding of a $7.4 million contract for the construction of an effluent force main line from the Calls Creek Water Reclamation Facility to the Middle Oconee River. This is a necessary step in the decommissioning of the Land Application System (LAS) site on Rocky Branch Road.
The commissioners also put on the consent agenda a $54,970 contract with Precision Planning Inc. of Lawrenceville for design and construction work associated with decommissioning LAS site and approved modifications totaling $149,000 in the contracts for design of the new Dawson Park on that site.
Land Purchase
The 110 acres that the commissioners agreed to purchase abuts the existing Heritage Park on it south and consists of three parcels owned by Moose Lake LLC.
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| Property Outlined By Solid Yellow Line Yellow Dotted Lines Show Existing Trails (Click To Enlarge) |
Dorset Trapnell is the organizer of Moose Lake LLC, and she and her husband, Mark Farmer, who live in Winterville, were at the meeting on Tuesday.
Kirouac said the land had been appraised at $1.94 million, and that Trapnell and Farmer had agreed to that price.
The actual purchase will be delayed until after the first of the year for tax purposes, he said.
The county will apply for the maximum $3 million allowed under the Conserve Georgia Grant program before the Oct. 17 deadline, according to Kirouac.
The application requires a 50 percent match from the county, and Kirouac said in an email exchange after the meeting that the current estimate of the total cost of the project is more than $6 million.
The county’s contribution will come from General Fund Balance, he said.
The purchase of the 110-acre parcel is not contingent on the receipt of the grant, Kirouac said, and he expects “to close on the property in January.”
Trapnell’s Comments
Trapnell, who came to the podium to address the Board after it had made the decision to put the purchase on the consent agenda, said she and Farmer purchased the property in 1997.
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| Trapnell 9/30/2025 |
“We were both much younger then,” she said, “and, to be quite honest, we could barely afford it. Making the purchase was a huge stretch.”
“But we both fell in love with the natural beauty of the property and fantasized about building our dream home overlooking the majestic bend in the Apalachee River,” she said. “Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned in that regard.”
“For nearly 30 years, we've been faithful stewards of this land, pouring our hearts and souls into this little piece of heaven,” she said.
“Now, thanks to the support of you, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, we have the opportunity to share this beautiful slice of Georgia with our fellow citizens,” she said. “It is our sincere hope that the unspoiled nature of this property will bring joy and peace to future generations.”
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| View Of Apalachee River From Property |
Trapnell asked the commissioners to “consider designating the tract of land, the Trapnell Preserve, or the Trapnell Preserve at Heritage Park.”
“Giving up this property, even for such a noble purpose and for the general enjoyment of the people,” she said, “is still very hard for me. This land has become a part of me.”
“Knowing that my efforts to preserve it will be known long after I'm gone would serve as a lasting testament to something that I care so very deeply about,” she said.
Application Details
Kirouac said in the email exchange after the meeting that the application can be thought of as having three parts.
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| Kirouac 9/30/2025 |
The first is land acquisition.
The second is trail development/improvement, including new trails and enhancements of existing trails.
“The grant cannot be used for ‘maintenance’ of existing trail system,” Kirouac wrote, “but it would be utilized for wayfinding signage and some of the work associated with trail revisions.”
The final component is equestrian/arena improvements, including parking, restrooms, drainage and fencing.
Kirouac told the commissioners on Tuesday that planned improvements to the Heritage Park Equestrian area, including the active arena portion, “would be excluded” from the grant and funded separately by the county.
“All of the purchase items have to occur after award of the grant with the exception of land purchases,” Kirouac wrote. “We will submit what’s referred to as a ‘letter of retroactivity’ request sometime after Oct. 17 and before Jan. 1 of 2026 to DNR to authorize the land purchase prior to formal award of the grant.” DNR is the Department of Natural Resources, where the grant program resides.
Kirouac said the letter of reactivity “is an allowance built into the grant process.”
Other Projects
Adam Layfield, Director of the Water Resources Department, told the Board that eight bids were submitted for construction of a 24-inch effluent force main, extending approximately 3.3 miles from the Calls Creek Water Reclamation Facility to the Middle Oconee River.
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| Sewer Line Plan (Click To Enlarge) |
With completion of the construction, the county will be able to discharge up to 3 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into the Middle Oconee River. A total of eight bids were received, he said, with Strickland and Sons Pipeline “the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.”
After leaving the treatment plant along Fuller Road, the line will follow North Main Street and then U.S. 441 to Rockinwood Drive, where it will turn and head toward the Middle Oconee River.
At present, the Calls Creek Water Treatment Plant discharges into Calls Creek, but the expanded plant will exceed the allowed discharge into that creek, necessitating construction of the forced main line to reach the Middle Oconee River.
With the expansion of the Calls Creek Plant, Adams continued, the county is redirecting flows to the Land Application System site from its current peak level of 50,000 gallons per day.
The PPI contract will allow decommissioning of plant grounds and make way for the new Dawson Dawson Park,” Layfield said.
The contract has both a design and construction support phase, he said.
Kirouac told the commissioners that it was his recommendation that design of the access points to the new Dawson park be added to the work assignment for Carter Engineering at an cost of $85,000 and the ancillary buildings at the rear of the property be shifted from Carter to Hill Foley Rossi at a cost of $64,000.
These three projects, along with purchase of the property abutting Heritage Park, were all put on the consent agenda for Tuesday. If no commissioner objects, all consent items will approved with a single vote and without discussion.
Video
The video below is on the county’s YouTube Channel.
I attended the meeting and made a recording as a backup. The image of Trapnell comes from a frame from the video I recorded.
The meeting begins at 4:25 in the video.
Kirouac began his discussion of the land purchase at 5:42 in the video.
Trapnell addressed the Board at 11:20 in the video.
Discussion of the contracts for the sewer line and for Dawson Park begins at 13:42 in the video.
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