Financing secured for equestrian center : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

Partners in the much talked about Horse Park of the South have obtained the needed funding to begin the first phase.

The Annie Penn Community Trust, Rockingham County and the City of Reidsville will each provide a third of the remaining $1 million needed to break ground on the initial phase of the equestrian center, the county announced Thursday. The first phase will cost $6.8 million and will include a covered ring with bleachers, three 100-stall barns and four show rings.

During a March meeting the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to move forward with the initial phase. County Manager Tom Robinson said during that meeting that a third party had agreed to pay a third of the $1 million needed to proceed with the project if the county and Reidsville would each pay a third.

The $13.5 million equestrian center will be built at the intersection of Barnes Street and Highway 29. The project has received $1.5 million from the Golden Leaf Foundation and $2.4 million from the N.C. General Assembly.

The county plans to hire an engineering firm for site grading and roadway construction and request proposals for architects, with a ground breaking planned for late summer. Workshops are also being planned to inform the public about the park’s potential economical benefits.

Beachwalk

May 14, 2009 - 11:59 am EDT

This equestrian center will be the biggest flop. There is NO WAY it will ever generate enough money, whether on its own or through the tax revenue it is suppose to generate, to pay for itself. Reidsville and Rockingham Co. have just created their own White elephant on Lee St.

Concerned2

May 14, 2009 - 9:40 pm EDT

Since the beginning of this project the county has said not a dime of county money would be used to build this center. Now they are spending 1/3 of a million dollars of tax money for someone's personal project. At the same time they are planning on cutting jobs, cutting pay of employees. Who is responsible for this abuse of power? The county manger has said time and again that this center will never make money for the county. Yet it is more important to them then public safety and employee loyalty. There is no excuse for this.

Local Man

May 15, 2009 - 11:04 am EDT

Thank you to all the groups that have studied the Horse Park issue for almost six years and taken the advice of experts in the field and preserveered in their efforts to move Rockingham County forward in a positive way.

We as the citizens and businesses of the County now need to be creative enough to take their gift and make it prosper and grow.

A special thank you to the County Commissioners who had the forsight and courage to see Rockingham County as more than a second class citizen in the triad.

Illiterati

May 17, 2009 - 9:07 am EDT

Thank you, Local Man, for spending your friends' and neighbors' money so freely and willingly during a time when strict fiscal responsibility would better serve our county. The county budget faces a $1.5M shortfall this year, and who knows how short we'll be next year and the year after that. But by God, money or no money, we will have a shiny new equestrian center that will employ maybe a dozen people, if that.

My buddy from Lexington, VA, and his neighbors laugh heartily at the folly that is their equestrian center, but don't try telling that to the select few who think it's the bee's knees, all the while denying how much it's still costing that marginally wealthier county. Lord, save us.

Landlover

May 17, 2009 - 10:38 pm EDT

The Rockingham County Manager and the County Commissioners are truly men of vision to have persevered in making the Horse Park a reality. As someone who has lived in other states where such a facility is available, I have seen first hand how great the economic benefit can be. Rockingham County is in dire need of a major attraction to help it to grow and attract additional businesses and new money to the area. Throughout history it has always been the case that the masses don't have the vision and think small, and it's up to our leaders to carve out the future. Thank goodness we have such good leaders.

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