Special Land Use Permit approved, but construction funds still needed to construct facility on Sardis Road property

The Polk County Commission voted to give the go-ahead to the Friends of Agriculture to move ahead with their project to build a new agriculture education center midway between Cedartown and Rockmart on Sardis Road, not far off of Highway 278.

Millions are expected to be needed by organizers to complete the work, but for now the organization that has been spearheaded by the Robinsons for the past several years is at least one step closer.

The group – seeking nonprofit status from the state – intends to build a several thousand square foot Agriculture Education and Natural Resource Center on Sardis Road capable of handling everything from small groups to gun shows in the future, if they can get the more than $6 million that Laura Robinson said will be needed to complete the project when she presented last Monday night what is planned to the county commission.

WATCH: Presentation to the County Commission on the Agriculture Education Center plan

She added that part of the reason the organization was coming before the commission now and not later when funding is in hand is to convince several large donors that the way is open for the group to proceed with their work.

County Commissioners did discuss during the presentation another longstanding problem: whether the land should remain agriculture, or if the use implies a need to rezone it as commercial.

That wasn’t the decision before the board, and the land will remain A-1 with the future home of the agriculture education center sitting atop it.

Plans for the center include space for meetings, conferences and business opportunities like a weekly farmer’s market to gather. An arena and cannery are also part of the facility’s plan, with the intention that outside groups will seek to utilize the space. Local organizations will be offered opportunities at discounted rates, Robinson added during her brief to the commission.

When the board gathered again on Tuesday night, July 12 to consider the motion they all agreed to allow for the ag center project to go ahead with a special land use permit, which doesn’t limit the amount of time they have to complete the project.

The land owned by Glenn and Laura Robinson will ultimately be turned over to the Friends of Agriculture once the facility it completed. It currently utilizes special tax savings for agriculture for farming land that is being used and worked.

The site on Sardis Road will be directly across from Sardis Church, and sit slightly back from WDC Block.

Once the facility is completed and during certain times of the year, the agriculture education center does plan to host events that will require some traffic control on Sardis Road and Old Cedartown Road, but only for limited times.

Check back on further progress on the ag center as it becomes available.