Knoxville looking to improve Fort Dickerson Park, quarry in South

City leaders and designers held a brainstorming session Monday to see what the public would like to improve about Fort Dickerson Park and the quarry in South Knoxville.

David Brace, the city of Knoxville's public works director, said access and amenities are some of the top priorities to make the lake and surrounding area a better attraction.

"We need better access so that everyone can get back to the quarry, all of our customers," Brace said. "We need good parking. We need restrooms. We need a vendor with their staff, or we need our own city staff down at the space."

People walked through a replica of the park and its surroundings on the floor of the Kern's Bakery Building Monday night, viewing design options and offering opinions with sticky notes on displays.

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Kevin Hill and his family, who live close to the quarry, came to the meeting to offer ideas and see what is in store for the future of the park.

"We moved here specifically to live in South Knoxville and be a part of the reinvention of South Knoxville as an urban, mixed-use, outdoor lifestyle community," Hill said.

Hill also owns Uncle Lem's Mountain Outfitters, which is opening a new location on Sevier Avenue to accommodate the growth along the South Knoxville waterfront and hopefully at the quarry soon.

"This isn't just impacting South Knoxville," Hill said. "This will become the magnet that brings the attention of the entire country to Knoxville."

The city will invest about $160,000 into the basic infrastructure for parking and any needed utilities, Brace said, and the Aslan Foundation will pay for the design surrounding the lake.

Brace said the meeting Monday was only the first step in transforming Fort Dickerson Park, but he said he heard a variety of opinions from people about what kinds of amenities could be options for the future.

"People are excited," Brace said. "They want more. They love really that part of South Knoxville, Fort Dickerson."

Knoxville College campus faces emergency repair order from city

The historic but troubled Knoxville College campus is looking at a new hurdle.

Already struggling to get back on its feet, school leaders are now facing an emergency repair order to rehab the entire campus.

They’ll meet today with city officials where they are expected to ask for an extension and present a plan to repair the property.

If the city doesn’t accept it, the school will have 30 days to vacate all of its buildings.

The hearing is set for 3:30 today in the Small Assembly Room of the City County Building. David Brace, the city’s public works department director, will preside over it.

The repair order comes after a series of fires set on the campus in mid-April, said Robert Moyers, manager for the city’s neighborhood codes enforcement division. The fire department asked the city’s codes department to inspect the area.

On April 20, the city issued the repair order.

“The buildings are in pretty bad shape,” Moyers said.

The city had previously issued repair orders on three buildings - McKee Hall, Brandon Hall and a nearby cottage for the faculty – according to Moyers. In addition, the city had demolished a couple buildings on the back portion of the campus.

Today’s hearing will address the remaining 17 buildings on the campus.

“The emergency order is what most people think of when you say ‘condemned,’ Moyers said. “They’re not fit for human habitation. We think they’re in pretty dangerous conditions."

Moyers said that declaring the properties “unfit” can actually help buy the school more time to save the buildings.

He also said people caught trespassing on unfit properties face stiffer penalties.

“We want to save these buildings if we can,” he added.

The historic black college has faced a series of setbacks, including the loss of its accreditation in 1997.

Last year, the 140-year-old school suspended classes indefinitely. At the time, the college had only 11 students enrolled.

In 2014, federal environmental officials intervened to clear out what they deemed hazardous chemicals that were left in an unused science building.

Earlier this month, Knox Heritage placed six of the campus’s buildings on its 2016 “Fragile 15” list of endangered historic places.

“The situation at Knoxville College continues to dramatically deteriorate with several building either condemned or suffering from a lack of maintenance,” Knox Heritage noted on its website. “Recent arson fires on campus have heightened the critical need for immediate intervention.”

The six buildings include: McKee Hall, Wallace Hall, Elnathan Hall, McMillan Chapel, Giffen Memorial Gymnasium and President’s House.

Knoxville work crew inadvertently demolishes sold county house

Before/after 1611 E. Glenwood Ave.

Imagine you have agreed to sell your house. As you're about to close the deal, someone else comes to your property and tears the house to the ground.

That's exactly what happened in East Knoxville where Knox County sold an abandoned home at auction to a man from California. While the county and buyer proceeded with the purchase, the City of Knoxville was moving forward with plans to raze the blighted house.

"It was sold at public auction for $7,200. The day before we were doing a closing, we learned the city had inadvertently demolished the home. Obviously, when we went to close, the gentleman who had purchased the home was not interested in closing," said Hugh Holt, purchasing director for Knox County.

The house at 1611 E. Glenwood Avenue was demolished on August 6. The abandoned property came into the county's possession by default after years of delinquent property taxes.

David Brace, director of public works for the City of Knoxville, said the home had been on a list for demolition for some time. The city demolishes around 60 to 70 blighted structures every year.

"We will demolish a home when it is a health or safety issue to a neighborhood or a community," said Brace. "If you live next door to one of these [houses], they're horrible. People break into them, steal the copper out of them, drugs, prostitution, and so on. So they're a real serious issue. That house had been blighted for a long time. It had been a problem for the community for many years."

Holt said without the house on the property, similar parcels have sold for around $1,000. While that's a considerable drop relative to an auctioned price of $7,200, it is still only a few thousand dollars in the grand scheme of things. The greater concern is ensuring a similar demolition mix-up does not occur in the future.

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