Board of Education approves property tax abatement for major sports park in south Forsyth – Forsyth County News Online

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The Forsyth County Board of Education approved a 10-year tax abatement at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18, for an upcoming major sports park in south Forsyth.
Formerly proposed as Winner’s Circle Park, SoFo Sports Park will sit on 62 acres of land off Peachtree Parkway and Brookwood and Caney Roads, and will feature diamond fields, a 125,000-square-foot indoor sports center, 21 pickleball courts and a commercial area.
But SoFo Sports Group, the developers behind the project, asked for help from the county to get the park up and running as property values and prices continue to rise.
At the board’s work session the previous week, leaders with SoFo Sports Group and the Forsyth County Development Authority encouraged board members to approve a 10-year tax abatement for the property the park will be built on.
The abatement would allow the property tax rate to freeze in place with it increasing slightly over the next 10 years, “which means SoFo Sports will continue to pay the current assessed value of that property,” Superintendent Dr. Jeff Bearden said.
“I know for me, I’m not a tax abatement person and I actually voted against the last one,” BOE Chairman Wes McCall said during last week’s work session. “However, I think this is an exciting project …. This is going to benefit the community, and it’s going to help SPLOST. For us, we took a big step last year and created a capital improvement plan based solely on SPLOST, so we pay as we go. I think we don’t know what that looks like, but this can only benefit [everyone], so I do support it.”
The board members voted unanimously to approve the 10-year tax abatement, and the Development Authority also voted to approve it in September. The Board of Commissioners will make the final vote on it later this month.
For more information, visit the district’s website at www.forsyth.k12.ga.us.

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