Roopville to Renovate Entertainment Center

Residents in the city of Roopville, Ga will soon see brand new changes in their small but quaint entertainment center. The facility will be renovated in order to accommodate more of Roopville’s citizens. The local pavilion will be befitted with a new wheelchair ramp in order to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.), as well as the addition of bathrooms and plumbing. Previously, the facility had no restrooms at all. To go along with the restrooms, the city is planning to add a new septic tank, draining and pipes. 

“It’s a very, very nice facility. The problem is it does not have any public restrooms around it,” said Lee Powers, Commissioner for Carroll County’s 5th District. 

The pavilion, which is located in downtown Roopville, is used for a variety of events. The city hosts the annual Roopville Homecoming Festival every third Saturday in September. The event includes multiple food vendors, a car show and even a parade. It is known to draw a sizeable crowd which can usually crawl up into the thousands, so having public restrooms on the premises would better accommodate larger amounts of people.  

The city is also wanting to build a wheelchair ramp for the stage at the pavilion so that the stage would be accessible to handicapped visitors. ADA regulations require that wheelchair ramps have a slope with a ratio of 1:12. The ramp should also be equal to the height. According to the ADA, it should be one foot of ramp for every inch in height. 

The city of Roopville is asking Carroll County to give them Special Purpose Local Action Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds to help pay for the improvements.  The county is prepared to allot $50,000 to the city of Roopville in order to help cover the cost of the upgrades. Even though Carroll County is giving Roopville money for this project, that is the only step they will take and the County won’t be involved much further. 

“The commission board just allocated the money to the city of Roopville,” Powers said. “It would be up to the city council to get bids; get that process started. We were just helping them out with the funds.” 

“It’s been a real joy to help them out while I’ve been on the commission board,” said Powers. “I love that they bring so much to Carroll County, especially the events they have down there.”  

The city hopes that the upgrades will be complete by the next Roopville Homecoming Festival on Sept. 21 of this year.