Columbus Council OKs use of ex-Georgia State Farmers Market. Here is what’s coming
After a years-long process to clean up the site of the former Georgia State Farmers Market, the Columbus Council voted to transfer ownership of the land back to the state, allowing it to be subleased to a private soccer club.
The Columbus Consolidated Government acquired the property from the state in 2018 with deed restrictions requiring public use. If the property ceased to be used in that way, ownership would revert to the State of Georgia.
Using funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s brownfield cleanup grant and a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, about $1.6 million was spent on cleanup and demolition of the 14.67-acre site.
This funding included a $500,000 grant from the EPA that the city sought in 2019.
Ahead of a Dec. 17, 2024, council meeting, Columbus Councilor Joanne Cogle of District 7, a 2026 mayoral candidate, asked for a resolution to enter an agreement with the Columbus Futbol Club to allow them to use the site for three soccer fields, citing high demand at the Woodruff Farm Soccer Complex.
Need for new soccer fields in Columbus
The complex has a list of over 200 kids waiting to play soccer, she said during the Nov. 4 council meeting.
“That just speaks to the testimony of the need in the city,” she said.
Cogle had asked Rob Scott, director of CCG’s Community Reinvestment Department, to determine whether there was any plan for the use of the former farmers market site, she told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“There wasn’t really a plan,” she said. “There were some restrictions on the land, and so that kind of limited it to what could be used here. At the time, there was no real plan for what was going to go on here. That gave us a little bit more of an opportunity to work with the soccer club and come up with a plan that would work for this particular piece of property.”
Concerns were raised during the meeting about those restrictions on the use of the property from the state and federal levels if a private organization were to use it as soccer fields. One of the biggest concerns for city staff was determining how the property would be for “public use” and benefit low- and moderate-income citizens to meet HUD requirements, deputy city manager Pam Hodge said during the December 2024 meeting.
The city worked this out during the negotiations to allow the Columbus Futbol Club to use the property, Cogle said.
“That has been resolved,” she said. “And I think everybody’s on the same page.”
The city attorney and state attorneys have worked out a deal that will allow the land to be “green space and fit within the HUD requirements,” Cogle said.
The Ledger-Enquirer asked city officials for more information about the details of the agreement between the Columbus Futbol Club and the city but did not receive a response before publishing.
Transfer of former Georgia State Farmers Market property
Nov. 4, the Columbus Council voted to approve an agreement that would transfer the property ownership back to the State of Georgia. The city may now lease the property from the state for up to 30 years for a rental fee of $1,740 per year, according to the resolution, with the Columbus Futbol Club paying the fee through a sublease.
The Columbus Futbol Club will construct the soccer fields and necessary amenities and will cover all expenses incurred.
This future soccer complex is in a prime location with the Columbus Civic Center and A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium nearby, Cogle said.
The Ledger-Enquirer was not able to reach the Columbus Futbol Club before publishing.
“I’m really excited about this because I think it is the next stepping stone to adding another green space into Columbus,” she said. “And that’s something that attracts economic development, that attracts our families and gives our kids something to do.”
