NORTH FORSYTH — For one last time, someone is going to bring the house down at Lanierland. During the Forsyth County commission’s meeting Thursday, Parks and Recreation Director Jim Pryor asked for permission to seek demolition options for the existing arena, concrete fencing and cabin on the 109-property on Jot Em Down Road in northeast Forsyth. The county bought the site, the former home of a popular concert venue, for $4.75 million using funds from a $100 million parks, recreation and green space bond voters approved in 2008. Lanierland Park will become home to a recreation center, tennis courts, playgrounds, spray-pad, archery range and various fields, including four for baseball. The project is currently in the permitting phase.“We don’t know how long [the permitting] process will take, but we would like to go ahead and prepare the site, so there will be no delays down the road,” Pryor said. “ Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills, whose family once owned Lanierland, said Friday she hopes it will take less than the 11 months Matt Community Park spent in the permitting process. According to Mills, that process was held up for a while due to issues with the consulting firm. Pryor said officials hope the project at Lanierland Park can be cost neutral.“We want to check out options to see if there’s something there that doesn’t involve us paying money for people to do it, maybe we could get some revenue out of what’s there on the site,” he said. After 36 years of operation, Lanierland music park closed in November 2006. In its heyday, it welcomed entertainers ranging from The Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama to Hank Williams Jr. The county’s parks board will bring back a proposal for the commission to approve.
NORTH FORSYTH — For one last time, someone is going to bring the house down at Lanierland. During the Forsyth County commission’s meeting Thursday, Parks and Recreation Director Jim Pryor asked for permission to seek demolition options for the existing arena, concrete fencing and cabin on the 109-property on Jot Em Down Road in northeast Forsyth. The county bought the site, the former home of a popular concert venue, for $4.75 million using funds from a $100 million parks, recreation and green space bond voters approved in 2008. Lanierland Park will become home to a recreation center, tennis courts, playgrounds, spray-pad, archery range and various fields, including four for baseball. The project is currently in the permitting phase.“We don’t know how long [the permitting] process will take, but we would like to go ahead and prepare the site, so there will be no delays down the road,” Pryor said. “ Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills, whose family once owned Lanierland, said Friday she hopes it will take less than the 11 months Matt Community Park spent in the permitting process. According to Mills, that process was held up for a while due to issues with the consulting firm. Pryor said officials hope the project at Lanierland Park can be cost neutral.“We want to check out options to see if there’s something there that doesn’t involve us paying money for people to do it, maybe we could get some revenue out of what’s there on the site,” he said. After 36 years of operation, Lanierland music park closed in November 2006. In its heyday, it welcomed entertainers ranging from The Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama to Hank Williams Jr. The county’s parks board will bring back a proposal for the commission to approve.