Perry County Fiscal Court approves $1M Land and Water grant application and $1M local match for East Perry Sports Park

The Perry County Fiscal Court voted to apply for a $1,000,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant for the East Perry Sports Park and approved a separate $1,000,000 local match, the court announced during its regular meeting.

The move, introduced by the presiding official and approved by the court with motions by Church and Combs, would pair the $1 million grant with a $1 million county commitment to create an initial $2 million funding pool for the project. "It would be a great jump start to to that project," the presiding official said during discussion.

Court members said the East Perry Sports Park has an estimated project scope of about $30,000,000 and cautioned that securing funding and lining up work could mean it may be two to three years before construction begins. "It may be 2 or 3 years before they see something breaking ground out there because it takes time to get the money lined up and to get a project started," the presiding official said.

Supporters framed the county match as necessary to make the grant application competitive. The court voted in favor of both the grant application and the local-match resolution by voice vote; the motions were recorded as "Motion by Church, second by Combs," with the presiding official calling the ayes.

Next steps include submitting the Land and Water Conservation Fund application and continuing internal grant coordination. The court did not set a definitive construction timeline; officials said further steps depend on grant awards and additional funding commitments.