UWG News Archive

$5 Million requested for UWG

March 29, 2004

CARROLLTON, GA - State Senator Bill Hamrick’s request to obtain funds in the Senate version of the 2005 budget for infrastructure improvements at the University of West Georgia was approved last week.

Last September, the Mayor and City Council of Carrollton voted unanimously to grant approximately 248 acres of city-owned land to the University contingent on the University obtaining the necessary funding for infrastructure improvements.

Following the City Council’s action to move forward in the negotiations to turn the land over to UWG, campus officials petitioned the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to submit a request for this legislative session for a $5 million capital grant request for the improvements.
The Board of Regents approved UWG’s project to go on their final list of requests to the Governor. However, the House version of the budget did not include this project.

The funding request will be finalized when the 2005 budget is approved at the end of the Legislative session, scheduled for this Friday. Hamrick noted that the $5 million for improving the land will be funded by 20-year bonds.

“UWG has grown by leaps and bounds, and hopefully we can provide them with what they need to continue growing and contributing to the economic activity of the West Georgia region,” said Hamrick.

Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna, UWG president, said, “I am very grateful to Senator Hamrick for putting this item on the list of minor capital projects. It is not easy to get an item on the list at this stage of the session, and as soon as I heard the news on Friday, I called Senator Hamrick to thank him for all his work and to let him know how much his friends at UWG appreciated it getting on the list.”

However, since other projects were taken off the list at the same time, the political lobbying will continue until the last moment of the session. Within minutes of the conversation with Hamrick, Sethna sent an e-mail alert to members of the Foundation Board of Trustees and the Alumni Board asking for their assistance in adding their voice to his to reach people of influence in the General Assembly.

The land is northeast of campus and will allow for the development of campus facilities to include a recreational and intercollegiate athletic complex, commuter parking, and a proposed stadium.

Benefits to the City include improved vehicular access from the north side of campus and access between Maple Street and Lovvorn Road, while reducing traffic on Maple Street. Landscape buffers will continue to be established along neighboring residential streets.

Sethna noted that the actual development of the land and facilities would take place in phases over a period of years as funding becomes available.

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