Habersham seeks $841,000 grant for ball field lighting

CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Habersham County is seeking an $841,071 grant to help replace aging ball field lighting with LED systems.

The Board of Commissioners approved a resolution allowing the county to apply for funding for the lights through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The proposed project would cover three zones of county ball fields.

Finance Director Kiani Holden said the project has been discussed for years because of the expense of converting the existing lighting systems.

“We have pushed it back ever since I’ve been here,” Holden said. “I’ve been here since 2013.”

County would provide 50% match

The lighting grant would require the county to provide a 50% local match.

Based on the current estimate of $841,071.14, the county’s share would be approximately $420,536. Holden said the county budgets $100,000 annually for grant matches and expects it would have time to accumulate the money before the match is due.

The grant is competitive, and Holden emphasized that receiving the funding is not guaranteed. She said this is the first time Habersham County has applied for the program for ball field lighting. The county previously received a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant for construction of the farmers market pavilion.

The proposed project would retrofit the existing lighting to LED rather than completely replace the lighting systems. Holden said Georgia Power provided the county with an estimate for the retrofit. Another company provided a significantly higher estimate because it proposed replacing the entire system.

The LED conversion would also include controls that would allow county staff to monitor usage and turn the lights on and off remotely. Holden said the project should provide more reliable lighting while reducing energy costs.

If the grant is awarded, the project will still go through a competitive bidding process. Holden said the Georgia Power estimate helped determine how much funding the county would seek.