VIDALIA — Dirt is moving on 80 acres of publicly owned flat land, and it likely won’t stop for two years.

Construction on the new Vidalia Municipal Complex began in earnest Monday, the same day the Concordia Recreation District No. 3 announced a step forward in plans to create a Vidalia recreation complex.

Both complexes will share a wide space of land along U.S. 84 near Walmart. A city park with walking trails, spray grounds and more will also be included.

“I rode over today, and it’s hard for me to believe how big that area is,” Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

And Copeland is excited about seeing job-creating construction on the site for months to come.

Subcontractor Camo Construction began the work for Clark Construction of McComb. Clark submitted the low bid; no local contractors submitted bids.

Copeland said the city asked Clark to try to work with local subcontractors.

The municipal complex will include City Hall, and the fire and police stations.

The contract’s timeline has project completion slated for spring 2012, but rainy days in the coming months could delay the plan, Copeland said.

Recreation District Board Chairman Marc Archer said he’s hopeful work on the fun side of the open land will begin in spring 2011.

The recreation district was recently approved for a $4 million bond issue to fund the facility.

Though the district had originally planned to work with the USDA for funding, three Vidalia banks offered a better interest rate, Archer said.

“Originally we were going through the USDA because of matching grant money available, but none of that is available and the local banks gave us a better rate,” he said.

The recreation district hopes to take bids soon, hopefully by February, Archer said.

“We are at the final stages of the construction drawings,” he said. “We’ll make a final decision in two or three weeks.

“(The complex) is a real deal.”

Both the municipal and recreation projects have been discussed for years.

Plans to construct a new municipal complex became more urgent in 2009 when black mold was discovered at the current City Hall building and employees started getting sick.