The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is considering spending $5 million from its reserve to put synthetic turf rather than natural grass on sports fields at the planned Dawson Park to support sports tourism in the county.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, who is a member of the IDA, said the county is prepared to spend $25 million it has in hand to launch Dawson Park.
That money will be used for site preparation, infrastructure, and for eight to 10 sports fields.
The county needs another $8 million to add an additional six sports fields and an estimated additional $32 million for a gymnasium, he said.
How the county generates the needed $40 for the additional fields and for the gym has not been decided, Daniell said, with bonding either by the IDA or by a vote of the citizens under consideration.
Separate from that decision, Daniell said, is whether the IDA wants to provide $5 million for turf rather than natural grass on those sports fields so the county can use Dawson Park as a springboard into sports tourism. The goal is to bring out-of-county revenue to the county.
Each of the five members of the Authority at the meeting made statements in support of taking the county in that direction either by spending the $5 million or at least some part of it, but the group delayed responding to Daniell’s question until it meets again on Jan. 27.
Courtney Bernardi, Oconee Chamber Of Commerce President and member of the Authority, said she will try to come back at that meeting with the cost of developing a broad strategic plan for sports tourism in the county, and Daniell said he will respond to any questions Authority members raise in the interim.
Origin Of Idea Of Sports Tourism
The possibility that the IDA might turn to sports tourism as a development stratgey first surfaced at a meeting of the Authority in August of last year.
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| Brodrick, Waller (foreground), Toole, Bernardi, Daniell (L-R) 1/13/2026 |
IDA Chair Brock Toole had called that August meeting following the regular meeting of the Authority in May.
IDA member Rick Waller had said at that meeting that the group needed to find a use for what was then a $5.2 million reserve it was holding.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority is a separate entity listed in the Georgia Constitution, with Daniell as Commission Chair, Courtney Bernardi as Chamber President, Brian Brodrick, as mayor of Watkinsville, and Janet Jones, as mayor of Bogart, designated as members.
The Board of Commissioners appoints two citizen members. Waller is one of those two, and Toole is the other. Toole independently is an elected member of the Oconee County Board of Education.
At it meeting on Tuesday, the Authority reappointed Toole as chair, Daniell as vice chair, and Bernardi as secretary. Jones did not attend the Tuesday meeting.
Waller raised the possibility of the Authority focusing on sports tourism as a tool of development at the August meeting.
“We've got people in the county right now that are traveling all over the place (for sports) with the kids that are growing up,” Waller said. “That's going to continue. Just the different families.”
“That would be something if we could generate revenue that way, which I think we can in regards to restaurants, motels, people not living here but coming here spending money,” he said.
Kemper Sports, a golf, sports, and hospitality company based in Northbrook, Ill., attended a Dec. 2 meetings of the IDA and then attended a meeting of the Board of Commissioners that same day to present its analysis of the sports tourism potential of Dawson Park.
The county Commission had independently hired Kemper to help it with plans for Dawson Park, to be located at what is current the Land Application System site on Rocky Branch Road.
Spending $5 Million
Daniell began the discussion at the Jan. 13 meeting by referring to the presentations by Kemper in December.
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| Kemper Map Showing Areas From Which Dawson Park Could Draw |
The $5 million that the IDA might contribute “is about the difference between whether we can put in natural grass or the artificial” for the eight to 10 fields that the county plans to build in the first phase of the project, he said.
For the IDA, he said, the question is the economic impact of that investment of $5 million.
“There's a pretty big difference between turf and natural,” he said.
Kemper projected $3.5 million in revenue for 16 fields and gym with turf, versus $3.0 million with grass.
In terms of what Kemper called “Direct Economic Impact” to the community, turf and a gym produces $26.5 million each year at year five, versus $20.3 million for grass and a gym.
Hotels
“A lot of focus was on hotel rooms at our discussion and at the Board of Commissioners meeting,” Daniell said.
At five years into use of the facility, with turf on 16 fields and a gym, Kemper is projecting 55,183 hotel room nights. That figure is 42,295 with natural grass.
At present, the county has one hotel, SpringHill Suites on Daniells Bridge Road, with 99 rooms.
So that comes out like 36,000 hotel room nights, Daniell saids.
“So we need anywhere from 200 to 250 more rooms to be able to keep this (spending) in Oconee County,” he said.
Daniell said that the Board of Commissioners has approved 746 hotel rooms as part of its zoning decision, and that one of those projects–for 120 rooms–is in the permitting stage.
Details Of Hotels
On Dec. 3, following the meeting of the IDA, Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Guy Herring provided me with a list of nine approved projects that include a hotel. Only the SpringHill Suites rezone is built.
The project in the permitting stage–referred to by Daniell at the meeting on the 13th--is part of the Research Quarter project off Virgil Langford Road between the Oconee Connector and SR 10 Loop.
In an email on Friday (Jan. 16), Herring said the plans for that project “show a LivSmart Studios Hilton product. We are waiting on the owner/applicant/engineer to resubmit plans for the site and building permit.”
“The plans do not reflect timing of construction,” he said.
The additional zoned projects are for a hotel on the Oconee Connector next door to SpringHill Suites (100 rooms), on Parkway Boulevard (107 rooms), on Plaza Parkway (90 rooms), on U.S. 78 behind JP convenience store and gas station (200 rooms), and on U.S. 78 opposite Westland subdivision (30 rooms).
Time Line
“Right now, we're planning to start on field grading next year,” Daniell said.
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| Daniell 1/13/2026 |
The LAS site is in the process of being decommissioned.
“It's a pretty big project,” Daniell said of Dawson Park. “We're talking probably 12 months of grading--12 to 18 at least.”
The final completion date is 2030 or 2031, he said, though some of the fields could be available in 2027.
Daniell said it will be possible to start booking future tournaments and other events for the park as soon as the county makes the decision on how it plans to go forward, including whether it will have turf or grass on its sports fields.
Funding
The county has $25 million set aside for the fields in its Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) fund and in the Capital fund, Daniell said.
“We're trying to figure out now how many fields can we get for the amount of money we’ve got sitting there,” he added.
With that $25 million, the site will be “pad ready” for he gym, Daniell said, with “all the infrastructure in place.”
“The initial estimates right now are $32 million for just the gym,” Daniell said. “Big number. So we'll have to figure out where that's coming from.”
The county also needs $8 million to get to the total of 16 planned fields, he said.
Daniell said the county has several options. It could ask the IDA to issue bonds, or it could ask voters to approve a general obligation bond for the park.
“Or we could save money and go pay cash for the building,” he said.
Voters will be asked in May to approve a new SPLOST that includes $10 million for Dawson Park, he said.
Daniell Reminder
“So we're talking $40 million,” Daniell said. “And that's going to be a community wide decision...I mean that's, that's big money. I’m not saying it won't happen, but it's--this is huge.”
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| Bernardi 1/13/2026 |
“We’ve got enough to get these fields done--or some fields done--and the infrastructure in without borrowing a dime.”
“We're doing this because we need the fields and we need to keep the green space,” Daniell said. “That's 300 acres that is not going to become houses or whatever. Honestly, we could probably get by with six to eight additional fields to meet the needs of the Parks and Rec program today.”
“Just a reminder,” Daniell said about half way through the meeting. “We started Dawson Park because we needed it. Then in our discussions here, sports tourism was brought up.”
“So we’ve got an asset that we're going to have to invest in, period,” he continued. “And so what we're trying to look at, is sport tourism an opportunity that reduces the amount of taxes that we have to raise to operate the park.”
“So instead of having to spend, if we put eight fields over there and it costs us $750,000 a year to maintain it, instead of grabbing all that from taxpayers, it's getting offset by the revenue generated from sport tourism,” he said.
Daniell said the Kemper study showed that with turf on 16 fields and a gym, “the out of pocket expense for the taxpayers” is $178,000. That figure is $700,283 for 16 grass fields with a gym.
“So you got $5 million sitting here you’re not using,” he said. “You said, hey what are we going to do with the money. You did your strategic planning. Sports tourism came up. Here we go.”
“Kemper’s gone and, and figured out, based on their modeling that this is a viable sports tourism site,” he said.
Discussion
“If it is turf, you're going to play on it a whole lot quicker than you're going to play on it if it's grass,” Toole said.
“So hopefully you'd be able to start putting the fields down in the summer of 27,” he continued. “And then, as soon as that's completed, you'd roll straight into the gym.”
“I do believe wholeheartedly that turf will drive those dollars more,” Bernardi said. “If we don't have turf fields, you can't really call yourself in the business of support tourism. You just can't do it.”
“Another question I have is,” Waller said, “does it have to be all or none?” referring to spending what is now $5.4 million from the IDA reserve.
“I'm just making these numbers up,” Toole responded. “We're going to give $4 million to the county for turf fields. We're going to keep $1.4 (million) back as a contingency.”
“We need a consultant, I think,” Brodrick said. “I don't think it'd be expensive, but do we need to think about the broader strategy of if this is truly an economic development strategy for our community that is beyond the exciting things at Dawson Park.”
“What are the opportunities we may be losing out on by spending our $5 million on this?” he asked.
“If our strategy's not revolving around recruiting industry or buying the next swath of land or something like that. We sort of need your help,” Brodrick said, looking to Bernardi.
“Because otherwise we probably need to go think about a land purchase or something like that,” he said. “But I don't think that's part of our strategy right now in terms of getting pad ready industrial sites.”
“I haven't heard that in this room,” he added.
Video
The video below is of the entire meeting of the Industrial Development Authority on Jan. 13, held in the North High Shoals Room at the county Administrative Building.
The meeting lasted a little more than an hour, and I had to leave for a doctor’s appointment as it was ending.
Dan Magee, the only other citizen present, closed up the camera and took it to his home for me to retrieve later in the day.
The meeting was a discussion, and the summary above does not always follow the flow of the meeting.
I pulled out information on the funding and time line, for example, from various places in the meeting but put them together in the summary.
I tried to maintain the integrity of the individual comments in providing the summary.
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