A new county board committee will oversee Forest County’s role in the development of an off-road park.
A nonprofit is pushing to build a 10,000 acre off-road vehicle park that it says will stimulate the local economy.
The Forest county board recently approved over $40,000 toward park development, so the project could apply for matching funds from the state’s economic development corporation.
Count Board Chairman Paul Millan says the new five-person committee will oversee how that money is being spent.
“We want to make sure it’s done properly, we don’t want to put the tax payers at risk. So you know we need to look at the engineering firms.”
Some community members have raised eyebrows at the county board spending money on a project that’s still in the exploratory phase. Millan says grant money will pay for evaluation of several potential sites.
“It’s for looking at the economic development part of it. And making sure the land will be properly used – and if there’s environmental issues, water issues, we want to make sure that’s all done first before we take that next step in purchasing the land.”
Millan says the committee will also serve to communicate with the public about the project’s status. The committee consists of three county board members and two citizens.
