For years, buildings at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville have remained untouched, and unoccupied. Now, there's a plan for the nearly 2,000 acre campus.

"We've lost an awful lot of our mental health capacity, treatment capacity over the last 25 years," says Milledgeville Mayor Richard Bentley.

In the 1960s, thousands of patients inhabited the hospital, now there's just 450. It's not just diminishing numbers that plague the grounds.

"Old buildings degrade if you don't occupy them, we need to put them back to work now," says Milledgeville City Planner, Mike Couch.

In 2008, a plan began to re-purpose CSH, the largest mental health facility in the state. The goal is to create a center for rural health care delivery, branching out into different fields of medical treatment. The city of Milledgeville is working with partners like GSCU to bring this facility back to life.

"If we had our way CSH would be like it was 50 years ago, when it was 12,000 to 15,000 clients and 5,000 employees," says Mayor Bentley.

It's a long process. Now, it's in the hands of state legislators who will hopefully secure the next stage of the plan, passing a bill that will create a Redevelopment Authority.

"We're moving on multiple fronts right now," says Couch.

If the bill is passed and signed by Governor Deal, creating more partnerships and reaching out for federal funding are the next steps.

"We haven't hit a wall yet, but we keep pushing and we're pushing as fast as we can."

State Senator Johnny Grant and State Representative Rusty Kidd are supporting the bill expected to drop on Tuesday. Couch is confident that it will pass and be signed off on within 30 days. Then they can move forward with putting together the RDA.