PICKENS — Pickens County will develop two recreational parks on Norris Highway and Madden Bridge Road.

One part of the property will be used as a put-in spot for kayaking through the Twelve Mile River Gorge, with a take-out spot five miles downstream.

In addition to the kayaking access points, plans call for picnic facilities, a lake boating and fishing access, possible outdoor recreation stores and walking trails between the two different locations.

The entire project is estimated to cost $1.9 million and will be mostly funded by Lake Hartwell Natural Resource Damages Settlement, which compensates for contamination of chemicals called PCBs that were dumped into the river by a manufacturing plant in Pickens years ago. This should cover nearly $1.5 million of the project, leaving roughly $400,000 in uncovered expenses. Pickens County is seeking the remaining $400,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Pickens County Council chairman Jennifer H. Willis and councilmembers Neil Smith and Trey Whitehurst have worked diligently from the beginning of the process. The park will be open and free to the public once construction is completed.

“”I am excited for the people of Cateechee who were affected by the PCBs,” Whitehurst said. “It is good that cleanup funds from the Lake Hartwell Natural Resources Damages Settlement will bring this project to the Cateechee area.”

Pickens County obtained a portion of the proposed park property through eminent domain after the owner failed to honor a signed contract for purchase between the parties. The county’s ownership became final when the property owner failed to file a legal challenge within the time period mandated by state law. The proper compensation to the property owner is still to be determined, but the county has maintained throughout that it would honor the written contract.