Gwinnett County closed on its $14 million purchase of Simpsonwood, the new Gwinnett County park that was previously owned by the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, on Friday.
The 223-acre park in Peachtree Corners, on the Chattahoochee River, had been given to the church in 1973 by Norcross teacher Ludie Simpson with understanding that it would not be "chopped into smaller parcels or exploited or despoiled." But for more than a decade, the church has been losing as much as $750,000 annually to maintain a conference center on the land. The church considered selling it for development before agreeing to preserve the land.
The park is closed to vehicles for now, but the county said a park master plan should be developed within the year. In the meantime, some church employees continue to work from the site.
In a statement, Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash said the Simpsonwood purchase “is a significant addition to our already nationally recognized countywide parks system.”
“I am especially excited to preserve a large corridor of property along the Chattahoochee River and look forward to the development of future park plans,” she said.
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