The Cherokee County Board of Education has approved a land swap with Cherokee County that will allow a future fire station near Ga. 372 and Julius Bridge Road, and space for a possible expansion of school district headquarters in Canton.

The district will exchange about five acres along Ga. 372 between Ball Ground and Free Home, for 4.4 acres of county land next to the Dr. Frank R. Petruzielo Educational Services Facility, the schools headquarters at 1205 Bluffs Pkwy. The district retained enough land on Ga. 372 for a future elementary school.

The county had obtained the Bluffs Parkway land from Canton when the city consolidated its fire services with the county’s, schools staff said in a report to the board. With the consolidation, Cherokee fire officials determined a fire station on Bluffs is not necessary.

The land swap gives the district space to expand its headquarters, when needed, “and more importantly, brings fire protective services into close proximity to the future site of an elementary school,” staff said.