A Canton City Councilman is expected to renew his fight to build an amphitheater at the new Etowah River Park during Thursday evening's city council meeting.

"We have to take the step forward to put in the amphitheater," said Councilman John Beresford, who will present a budget amendment during the meeting that will call for $291,840 to be transferred from the city's SPLOST VI Recreation Fund and be used to build the amphitheater.

Beresford said that the company that originally submitted the bid to construct the amphitheater earlier in the year would still honor that bid, and any delay would only cause construction costs to increase.

"It's there, the park's there, the park's going in, all we need is to put the lid on it, and it's crazy not to put the lid on," he said.

Beresford wants to attract corporate sponsorship to the amphitheater, and cited the success of other outdoor venues like the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park as a prime reason to build a similar structure in Canton.

The councilman claims that anyone who feels the amphitheater combined with a concessions stand would not be a significant money-generating operation for the city is misinformed.

"If the DDA holds a fundraiser, they can have it at the amphitheater and the city will get a percentage of the sales," he said. 

According to Beresford, due to the "shortsightedness of certain individuals," the amphitheater project has been delayed as other projects had been given greater priority.

Beresford believes that the city will reap great benefits from the amphitheater, as it will be the first thing people see when they drive in to the new park area.

Mayor Gene Hobgood supports the general idea of the amphitheater, but questions the timing of the budget amendment.

"The city manager and CFO made it pretty clear that based on a 'status quo budget,' it's going to be hard to do much else without raising taxes," Hobgood said.

Hobgood believes a more economical move for the city would to be construct trails connecting Etowah River Park with Heritage Park and Boling Park. Hobgood said that the trails, once constructed, would have a significantly lower maintenance cost than an amphitheater.

Furthermore, Hobgood said that the amphitheater idea had already been attempted at Heritage Park without success. 

"I wouldn't choose to do this at this time because of the current budgetary constraints," he said.

Councilman Hooky Huffman offered a similar opinion, saying, "it depends on the budget situation. We have a lot of budget reviewing to do before we decide, but I would like to have the amphitheater."

Countering these claims, Beresford said that the Heritage Park amphitheater work was a "sorry job," and that the hillocks in the park should be leveled to allow more sports fields. He also said that it would be impossible to add the trails to Boling Park because of Georgia Power easements.

Additionally, he contends that since the money to build the amphitheater is in SPLOST VI, budgetary concerns should not apply to this project.

"We can come up with the money, and we should push the process," he said. "Hopefully I will have the support of the council to get this accomplished."

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at Canton City Hall. A copy of the agenda and the budget amendment motion have been attached to this article.