Get used to the patches of grass and dirt on the former Big Mill site. They’ll apparently be part of the downtown landscape for a while.

Although building costs are at a 5-year low, county officials said they are in no hurry to transform the 17-acre site into a proposed county government center.

Cherokee County Councilman Bailey Humphries said the decision to move forward on the project is more political than financial.

“It would save taxpayers a lot of money, but the local economic conditions make it difficult for council members to support that cost right now,” he said.

The county has a capital building project fund aside to pay for the project. The fund now totals about $3.5 million.

But Humphries said building the facility will take at least $10 million. The center would consolidate all of the county departments — including the courthouse space now occupied by the auditor and treasurer — under one roof.

The county would fund the remaining cost of the project with bonds.

Last summer, Milliken agreed to sell the former manufacturing site to the county for $435,000. Part of the deal called for the county to sell the city three acres of the property for a park.

But city officials have said it makes no sense to begin work on a new park until the county completes construction of its proposed government center.

Humphries said he hopes the county would begin the project within the next five years.