Springfield City Council members addressed a long-standing goal at their Jan. 13 meeting.

The council agreed to buy a portion of a parking lot adjacent to city hall for $58,000, giving the city more space to accommodate visitors to the Mars Theatre in particular. The purchase gives the city half of the lot, or .32 of an acre, on the other side of Second Street.

Council members also approved applying for a Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Incentive Grant. The grant, City Manager Brett Bennett said, cannot exceed $50,000.

Should the city be awarded the grant, the proceeds would go toward developing a Log Landing Road location to give the public a kayak/canoe launch point into the Ebenezer Creek.

The city, with the help of the Georgia Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, the state Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the R. Howard Dobbs Jr. Foundation and the Knobloch Family Foundation, bought 278 acres known as Ebenezer Crossing in December. The tract is the second piece of ecologically-valuable land along Ebenezer Creek, a Georgia Wild and Scenic River, that Springfield has acquired in the last two years. It flanks the lower two miles of the creek at its confluence with the Savannah River and is just downstream from Thompson Island, the 19-acre island donated in 2013 to Springfield by the Thompson family and the Georgia Conservancy.

The acquisition of the two properties is part of the city’s plan for a greenway that connects the community with Ebenezer Creek.

Springfield Police officers soon will be hitting the street with the latest in public safety gear.

City council members approved the purchase of eight body cameras for its police department. The cameras give officers the ability to record and take still shots. The cameras came with download cables and the videos can be stored on SD cards.

The city also is acquiring a forward-looking infrared camera for use at night.