"Design will wrap up at the end of FY27. Construction phase anticipated in FY 2028."
That line comes from the August 2026 minutes of the Hall County Parks and Community Services Advisory Board. It is the most current official schedule for the South Hall Active Life Center and Park, planned for 6827 Spout Springs Road. The road project has a similar timeline. The Georgia Department of Transportation lists construction on the next widening phase in Program Year 2029.
If you live in Sterling on the Lake, neither project will bring bulldozers this year or next. This fall is when right-of-way paperwork moves forward and the county decides the size of the new center. Those steps set what eventually gets built on the road you drive every day.
The Stretch That's Already Built, According to Most Records
The first widening phase, GDOT project 0009679, covers 3.2 miles of Spout Springs Road from I-985 to Union Circle. The plan was four lanes with a 20-foot raised median and sidewalks. GDOT issued the notice to proceed on November 12, 2019.
The records disagree on how that phase ended. In minutes from March 2025, the Hall County Planning Commission says Phase I "began in November of 2019 and was completed in June of 2023." GDOT's public dashboard, though, still shows the project at 97.07 percent complete with the status "Under Construction." It also lists a completion date of June 17, 2023 and a work-completion date of September 1, 2023. Both sources agree the work was finished by 2023. What the gap shows is that state project pages don't always get updated once crews leave. Keep that in mind when you read GDOT's page for the next phase.
For Sterling on the Lake, the location question comes down to two numbers. Driving directions put the community's entrance about two miles up Spout Springs Road from I-985 Exit 12, and Phase I runs 3.2 miles from I-985. That suggests the entrance is on the stretch that's already widened. No official map in the public record confirms it, though, and the directions only give an approximate distance.
Phase II Has One Real Milestone Left in 2026
Phase II is GDOT project 0015280. It covers 2.51 miles of Spout Springs Road from Union Circle to just south of SR 347, also known as Friendship Road. The plan is the same as Phase I: two lanes become four, divided by a 20-foot raised median, with sidewalks. GDOT's description adds that "median openings and intersections will be modified/removed accordingly." Drivers who turn left out of a side street on this stretch should pay attention to that last part.
As of early October 2026, the dashboard shows construction at 0.00 percent. The notice-to-proceed and completion fields are blank, and no contractor is listed. One date does appear: right-of-way authorization on November 13, 2026. That date is about six weeks away, and it's the next concrete step in the project.
How the schedule got here matters, because the construction year has slipped before:
- April 2024. The Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization moved Phase II construction and utilities "from 2024 to 2028." The planning group's project sheet listed 2030 as the year the road would open to traffic.
- March 2025. At Hall County's request, the planning group moved right-of-way funding earlier, from program year 2027 to 2026.
- February 2026. Hall County reported that Phase II design and right-of-way acquisition were underway and would continue through 2026.
- Today. GDOT lists right-of-way in program year 2027, with utilities and construction both in program year 2029. The construction estimate is $48,546,004.67, last updated August 24, 2025.
A program year is when funding is set aside. It isn't a promised groundbreaking. The road's planned construction year has already moved from 2024 to 2028 to 2029. GDOT's table also carries two separate right-of-way line items, $12.57 million in program year 2023 and $20.24 million in program year 2027, both last estimated on June 3, 2024. Even the scope differs between sources. The planning group's sheet describes 3.39 miles with a 10-foot multiuse path, while GDOT lists 2.51 miles with sidewalks. GDOT's description is the one tied to the project number, so treat it as the controlling version.
Hall County hasn't announced any public open house for Phase II in 2025 or 2026. Its February 2026 update on design and right-of-way is the most recent public status report.
A Park Whose Size Is Still Undecided
The second project is the South Hall Active Life Center and Park. The site covers more than 200 acres of undeveloped land at 6827 Spout Springs Road, behind the Spout Springs wastewater facility. Hall County held public input meetings on February 5, 2025 and May 21, 2025. The county reported the master plan as finished in 2025.
After those meetings, the county described paved and hiking trails and pickleball as high-interest amenities, with a community center holding basketball gyms, meeting rooms, and fitness areas as a core component. Aquatics was left as a possible later phase. The county's civil design solicitation describes the outdoor plan in detail:
- A park center and a maintenance building
- 9 to 12 pickleball courts
- Four 225-foot baseball fields and six batting cages
- Two playground areas and a splash pad
The building is where the real choice remains. When the county asked for architects, it described a multi-generational center of about 40,000 square feet with basketball courts, fitness rooms, and meeting rooms. The April 9, 2026 Board of Commissioners agenda proposed giving the architectural design contract to Lose & Associates for $832,500. Four months later, the August 2026 advisory board minutes reported that preliminary concepts had been reviewed with Hussey Gay Bell. The next step is new cost estimates to decide between "the 25,000 sq ft design which includes the gym or the 15,000 sq ft without the gym."
In other words, the plan started at roughly 40,000 square feet and the current options are 25,000 or 15,000. The county called a center with basketball gyms a core component in 2025, and whether the building includes a gym now depends on those cost estimates.
The money comes from more than one source. Hall County's proposed SPLOST IX project list included the park and center, and the proposed FY2027 budget includes design funding and calls FY2027 the first year of SPLOST IX collections. A July 9, 2026 commission agenda item asked to release the land for the future park and to use SPLOST VIII funds to record a $645,691 land-transfer value. The agenda page shows the request but not the outcome of the vote. No groundbreaking or opening date has been announced.
Two Projects on One Road, With Similar Timelines
Taken together, the official schedules put park construction in Hall County's FY2028 and road construction in GDOT's 2029 program year. Both projects are on Spout Springs Road. Both depend on decisions still being made this fall: right-of-way authorization for the road and the building size for the park. Both have changed dates or scope at least once since 2024.
Neither agency has published anything that coordinates the two projects. If both stay on schedule, the corridor between I-985 and Friendship Road could see park construction and road construction around the same period. That depends on two schedules that have each slipped before. A better guide to the timing is the November 13 right-of-way date and the next round of cost estimates for the park building.
What's Changing on the Corridor Sooner
Some smaller changes are already visible. PITA Mediterranean Street Food lists a Flowery Branch location as "Coming Soon" at 5855 Spout Springs Road, Suite 122, with no opening date yet. Lucky Goat Coffee lists a café at 5887 Spout Springs Road, Suite D403. Farther up the road, a Dunkin' at 7425 Spout Springs Road was scheduled to open on August 15, 2025.
Until the new park exists, the closest community calendar runs out of downtown Flowery Branch and nearby county venues. Here are the October dates from the city calendar and local listings:
- Thursdays, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.: Flowery Branch Farmers Market at 5210 Railroad Ave.
- October 9, 6:30 p.m.: Hitlist Concert on the Flowery Branch city calendar.
- October 17, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: The 21st Annual Gainesville Chicken Festival at Lake Lanier Olympic Park, 3105 Clarks Bridge Road, according to Lakeside News.
- October 22 to 24: Stars, Flannel & Vintage Weekend in Flowery Branch.
- October 24: Hall County Parks' Harvest Festival, held with the Sheriff's Office.
- October 29, 3:30 p.m.: Trunk or Treat, followed by the Boo Run 5K at 8 a.m. on October 31.
To check the road schedule yourself, the GDOT project page for Phase II is public. The August 2026 parks advisory board minutes are the most recent public update on the park.
At Georgia Real Estate Depot, Gary and Trevor Nix follow the Spout Springs corridor closely because it shapes daily life in Sterling on the Lake. If you'd like to talk through what the widening or the new park could mean for your street, contact us and we'll go through the public records with you.
