Hall County celebrated the beginning of construction on the North Hall park and library with a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning.

There were already bulldozers moving dirt when representatives from Hall County, the Friends of the North Hall Park and the firm designing the facility gathered at the Nopone Road site to celebrate the project getting underway.

The approximately 138-acre site will house the combined library and community center along with ball fields and a track.

There is a creek running through the property that separates the athletic facilities from the second phase of the project that is known as the great lawn. Officials hope the large green space can be used not only for recreation but for outdoor festivals and concerts.

“It’s just a beautiful setting,” said Parks and Leisure Director Greg Walker. “It’s much needed and it’s been much anticipated.”

The recreational facilities and the library will be joined together and share two multipurpose rooms. The county estimates the design will save about $2 million in construction costs.

The entire facility, including outdoor areas, will be about 55,800 square feet, with the library making up 12,373 square feet.

The park and community center are budgeted for $12 million, while $3 million was set aside for the library. The projects are funded by the special purpose local option sales tax.

“We feel like it’s going to be a unique building,” Walker said. “It will be a beautiful addition to the quality of life in North Hall.”

Jeff Crocker, one of the facility’s architects, pointed out that there are few like it in the country.

“The ones that are out here have been tremendously successful,” Crocker said.

Commissioner Steve Gailey thanked the Friends of the North Hall Park, a group of North Hall advocates who worked with the commission to get the ball rolling on a park and community center in their area.

“I’m just amazed at what we’re seeing out here already,” Gailey said.

Though there was a lot of excitement in the air, there are still challenges for the fledgling facility.

Chairman Tom Oliver, who proposed joining the library and park facilities, acknowledged that the project has not been smooth.

The city of Clermont is suing Hall County over its decision to build the North Hall library at the Nopone Road site.

The suit, filed in April, claims the board of commissioners “indicated in a multitude of public statements, that the future Clermont library branch for the North Hall area was going to be constructed on a part of the 41.43-acre tract purchased ... in the town of Clermont.”

Hall County said no such promise was ever made and no vote was taken on the location of the North Hall library until the commission voted in late February to place it at Nopone Road.