The county Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night approved buying 199.2 acres from Forestar for $4,720 an acre and an adjacent 60-acre tract known as the Ford property for $10,000 an acre.
The property is north of Highway 20/Knox Bridge Highway and west of Highway 140/Reinhardt College Parkway between Canton and Sutallee.
The total cost of the land is about $1.5 million to be paid for using county parks bond revenue.
Commissioner Harry Johnston said the Forestar property price is "going to seem like the biggest bargain in the world" in a few years.
"This is a major component of our greenspace program," he said, noting the board had earmarked $10 million of the $90 million parks bond for greenspace.
Johnston said the county is also pursuing the purchase of other nearby properties.
Commissioner Jim Hubbard said the tracts provide connectivity from Boling Park in Canton to Shoal Creek near the Georgia National Cemetery in Sutallee.
"A lot of it is really good wilderness," he said. "Now, it is protected. We will put greenspace easements on it and it will be protected for grandchildren and their grandchildren."
Longtime Boy Scouts leader Dan Owen of Canton lobbied the commissioners to buy the land.
The purchase will connect Boy Scout trails at Boling Park and on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land that follow the old Sutallee Trace, a historic road bed used in the early days of Cherokee.
He said the main Sutallee Trace trail leads to the recently acquired properties.
"This will allow us to go straight on through to Shoal Creek," he said.
Owen said the next step is for multi-use trails to be cut on the new property, possibly with canoe and kayak access to the Etowah River.
Hubbard, a scouts supporter himself, said the county government would work with the Boy Scouts to create the trails.
"There is a lot of pretty property through there," Owen said, adding he has been working off and on with this project for more than three decades. "I am real happy that it has been done."
The board on Tuesday also approved a list of projects to be funded if voters in the November general election approve a sales tax renewal.
The county government's SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax), which it shares with city governments, is set to expire in July 2012.
The referendum up for a vote this fall would extend it for six years and generate an estimated $185 million.
The county government's projects include expansion of the jail, courthouse and airport; business and economic development land acquisition and infrastructure construction; construction of and improvements to transportation facilities, law enforcement and fire and emergency services facilities, sewer systems, libraries, senior centers and animal shelters; purchasing advanced life support vehicles and fire and emergency services vehicles and equipment; and debt service.
City of Ball Ground projects include construction of and improvements to transportation facilities, law enforcement and fire facilities, water and sewer systems, community center and parks and recreation facilities; purchasing vehicles and equipment for law enforcement and fire services; and City Hall debt service. One of the specific projects is construction of a new fire station.
City of Canton projects include construction of and improvements to transportation facilities, fire facilities, water and wastewater facilities, government buildings and parks and recreation facilities; purchasing equipment; and debt service.
City of Holly Springs projects include construction of and improvements to transportation facilities, law enforcement facilities, City Hall, sewer system infrastructure; and purchasing vehicles and equipment. Specific sewer projects include the installation of sewer lines downtown.
City of Mountain Park projects include enhancements to law enforcement, streets and drainage.
City of Nelson projects include construction of and improvements to transportation and parks and recreation facilities; and purchasing law enforcement and fire vehicles and equipment.
City of Waleska projects include water system and parks and community facilities improvements.
City of Woodstock projects include construction of and improvements to transportation, public safety, water and wastewater, public works and parks and cultural arts facilities; purchasing equipment; and debt service. Specific transportation projects include construction of the Arnold Mill Bypass and Neese Road improvements
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