University officials are developing their proposal to the Local Redevelopment Authority for the Navy School site following the Georgia legislature’s approval of the 2008 budget.

“We’re preparing a response to give to them around (May) third,” said Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and administration.

The Local Redevelopment Authority set a May 3 deadline for the University to turn in plans for the site, said Holly Reed, the base reuse coordinator for the Local Redevelopment Authority.

After hearing the University’s plans, the Local Redevelopment Authority will announce on May 9

their decision as to who will occupy the property, Reed said.

She also said the group will announce their final plan in late June at a public forum.

Reed said a part of the Local Redevelopment Authority’s decision will be based on the University’s ability to acquire funding for the project.

The Georgia legislature, which recently passed the 2008 budget, will provide much of the funding for this project.

Burgess said the legislature gave the University “almost all of the money we asked for.”

He said the University requested $3.8 million in state funds, and the legislature approved to pay $2.8 million for the planning and initial implementations and $500,000 for a residency program for the hospital.

In their appropriations, the legislature designated the money to go to the Board of Regents, a designation differing from the University’s request.

But administrators are “very confident” the Board of Regents will pay for the updates to the site, Burgess said.

The $3.3 million designated in the 2008 budget will pay for the beginning of the funding for the proposed medical campus on the Navy School site, he said.

“This funding stream … will rise fairly quickly between now and fall 2009, which is when the first 40 students will start,” Burgess said. “It will rise incrementally for the next four years after that.”

Burgess said administrators expect the facility to service 160 students at full capacity.