ART Station will be able to stay in its downtown Stone Mountain location for another decade thanks to a new lease agreement with DeKalb County.

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners last week approved a one-year lease agreement with the non-profit entity which operates ART Station. It can be renewed annually for up to 10 years at a cost of $1 per year, according to the contract terms.

The 23-year-old non-profit arts center occupies a county-owned facility on Manor Drive.

Commissioners applauded the lease and ART Station. District 4 Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said the facility complements an area hurt by a down economy and vacant store fronts in a formerly vibrant, tourist-oriented retail area.

“It is vital that we support this center,” she said during the meeting. “It is in the heart of District 4 and, as you know, there is not a lot going on there.”

The county has similar agreements with other arts groups. DeKalb also owns the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Druid Hills and leases it to a non-profit arts group.

Also at last week’s meeting the board of commissioners approved a resolution to allow for the purchase of two parcels of land in Henry County from developer West Panola LLC of Stockbridge.

The land will be used to increase the buffer zone between the county’s Seminole Landfill in south DeKalb and existing residential neighborhoods.

“We are expanding the footprint of the Seminole Landfill, but it’s to increase the buffer between the landfill and residential area,” District 5 Commissioner Lee May said last week.

The board’s approval allows the CEO to negotiate the purchase of the land, totaling about 10 acres, on Bond Drive adjacent to the landfill at a price of no more than $220,000.

The move is part of a commission policy to secure a buffer area through purchasing land when available, May said.

At its Nov. 10 regular meeting, the board approved the purchase of about 23 acres on Ward Lake Road in DeKalb for the same purpose.