Leaders in Forsyth County are so anxious to have a local, four-year college that they're willing to start small — on a vacant floor of Cumming City Hall.

Starting in August, North Georgia College and State University of Dahlonega will offer a master's degree in business administration at City Hall.

"This is for us a historic occasion," said university President David Potter said Tuesday night, in announcing the partnership at a Cumming City Council meeting.

North Georgia only recently established a business school, and the MBA program in Cumming will be a first for the university, Potter said.

Classes will be held in the evenings on the vacant, top floor of Cumming's 5-year-old City Hall — at least for a few years, Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt said.

But the mayor said he hopes the program is just the first step to getting a permanent campus of North Georgia in the city.

The mayor said the city owns 78 acres along Pilgrim Mill Road that could serve as a site for the campus.

"We've got to start small with the MBA program," Gravitt said.

He said Forsyth County community leaders have been pushing for years for a local, four-year college, but "got serious about three years ago."

A four-year college has been a priority of the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce and of a large percentage of residents who recently helped develop a longterm vision for the county.