By Karen Williamson

KARENW@CULLMANTIMES.COM

There was standing room only at a public meeting was held to discuss the county’s new off-highway vehicle park Wednesday at the Cullman County Economic Development office.

The name of the park has gone through successive names, according to CCED Director Sam Danford. Originally it was called the All-Terrain Vehicle Park for four-wheelers. Later it became known as the Off-Road Vehicle Park, but the park will be referred to now as the OHV Park, said Danford.

The park is located on 1,464 acres past Bremen on Ala. Highway 69 South towards Jasper.

St. John & Associates is providing professional planning and design services for the park.

“This plan is developing and evolving,” said President Bill St. John. “It’s meant to accommodate the needs of the people who want to come use it.”

The first structure to go up will be a shop building. The building will store equipment, and the maintenance staff will operate out of it. It will function as an office until the next structure goes up.

The plans call for an environmental education center which will have classrooms and be supported by environmental trails that will demonstrate wetlands and other habitats, according to St. John.

The park will contain pavilions, picnic tables and a storm shelter.

The main road in the park is a gravel road which already exists at the site and will hold two-way traffic.

Looped trails will be developed off of the main road which carry only one-way traffic for safety reasons, said St. John.

The trails will be for motor bikes, dirt bikes and possibly an equestrian trail.

Another area will be developed into a rock crawling site located on a steep, rocky terrain. Rock crawling is an extreme form of off road driving using highly modified four-wheel-drive vehicles such as trucks and Jeeps.

When asked what the timeline would be, St. John said, “The plan depends a lot on the funding schedule. The park should be open next fall.”

The first part of the park to open will primarily be trails that already exist, he said.

The schedule to complete the park is about five years.

The site will have two campgrounds with hookups for about 40 campers at each site.

Resident Ben Harrison said the OHV Park is going to be great for the county and the state.

“I know three people who came down from Missouri to ride at Wilburn’s,” he said.

Wilburn’s has ATV trails on Stout Mountain in Hanceville.

“We have gone as far away as West Virginia to ride, just to find a place to go,” Harrison said.

Resident Ron Johnson was at the meeting because he is considering opening a recreational vehicle park in Dodge City.

“I think both parties can benefit from it (the OHV Park) if everybody works together,” he said.

County Commissioner Doug Williams told Johnson the county plans to advertise the park nationally. Williams said a four-wheel-vehicle park in Knoxville, Tenn., averaged 8,000 people each weekend.

“We want them to spend the whole week,” he told Johnson.

Williams also said a park in Durhamtown, Ga., was doing well.

“I just live here right amongst all of this,” said resident Jim Cordes pointing to the map of the park. “If they can quiet it down at night, I don’t have a problem with it.”

Todd McLeroy, Marty and Sonja Freeman and John Betts along with three other investors bought the land where the park is located during the fall of 2004. The investors formed a company called Dorsey Creek, LLC, named for the creek that runs through the property, and purchased 2,320 acres from Blue Sky Timber Properties, LLC, a subsidiary of International Paper.

“We were impressed with the property the first time we saw it,” said McLeroy. “Tracts of this size with timber, creeks, hills and trails are hard to find in Cullman County.”

McLeroy said he met many times with representatives from Cullman County and the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of lands for the use and enjoyment of the public.

The organization hired an independent appraiser from Birmingham to appraise 1,464 acres. The appraiser determined the property was worth $2,158,000.

“We reached an agreement with the Trust for Public Land and Cullman County, and in March 2007, we conveyed 1,464 acres to the Trust for Public Land in a transaction that was 80 percent sale and 20 percent donation,” said McLeroy. “The Trust for Public Land then transferred the 1,464 acres to Cullman County.”

Betts said the park will be good for industry. It will help companies to recruit people because “it will give families a place to play.”