Commission approves River Sports lease renewal for the Cove

River Sports Outfitters will  keep its location at the Cove in Concord Park.

Knox County leaders approved a 10-year lease renewal for the business during Monday evening's commission meeting.

Some community members spoke against the renewal because of trash and building conditions. They also claimed taxpayer money is being used to pay for repairs to the facility.

River Sports Outfitters owner Ed McCalister told the commission that's not the case and that he's followed the rules.

The commission signed off on the proposal in a 10-1 vote with only Commissioner John Schoonmaker dissenting.

"The Cove at Concord Park is our premiere park in Knox County. We want everybody to come there and use it,"  Schoonmaker said. "But if there's questions regarding the…a vendor that's providing services to our citizens, I think that's important."

The park will post a sign at the Cove to let people know how they can share feedback on the lease and the location.

City's 'Downtown Slides' contruction program starting in late January

Construction on the first part of Knoxville's "Downtown Slides" program will begin soon.

Work will start in late January or in early February, according to Kathleen Gibi, Public Affairs Specialist with the city of Knoxville's Department of Parks and Recreation.

The first slide will be installed outside of the Civic Coliseum parking garage on Howard Baker Jr. Boulevard.

PREVIOUS: Knoxville announces plans for "Downtown Slides" program

The slide will cost around $15,000, but will be covered using a Play Everywhere Challenge grant from KaBOOM!, a national non-profit that promotes incorporating balanced and active play into kids' daily lives.

No other slides are planned yet, but the city is working to identify other locations for the slides. The city will later ask for public input on where to put additional slides.

One potential location could be Morningside Park, but engineers have not yet inspected the location, Gibi said.

City announced 'rapid response' greenways/trails service crew

Mayor Madeline Rogero on Wednesday introduced the City’s new Greenways Service Crew, which will build two new miles of greenway per year while also addressing ongoing maintenance of the City’s nearly 100-mile network of greenways and trails.

“With the Greenways Feasibility Study, we now have a plan to connect greenways throughout Knoxville. This new crew will expedite our progress in linking more neighborhoods into our greenways network,” said Mayor Rogero. “Additionally, this crew means that we have a rapid response team to address maintenance calls reported to 311 by greenway users.”

The five-person service crew will hit the greenways daily, armed with a small fleet of new equipment, including an off-road truck, a wood chipper, a smaller greenway-sized dump truck that will be able to release mulch on either side, an ATV, and a skid steer. The crew even has two mountain bikes that will assist in quickly accessing the more remote parts of the greenways system. The equipment cost about $135,000.

The creation of the new in-house Greenways Service Crew will speed up the City’s response to maintenance requests from residents through the City’s 311 Call Center. Dedicating a crew to focus solely on greenways also will accelerate construction of new trails at a key time.

Last summer, City officials unveiled a detailed plan for strategically adding 24 miles of connected greenways in 13 different corridors. The Greenway Corridor Feasibility Study is a blueprint for the most comprehensive greenways build-out in the City’s history. The City currently has $3 million in capital funding marked for greenway construction.

“Basically, we now have a crew waking up every day thinking specifically about greenways – how to improve greenways as a daily service to Knoxville residents,” said Chad Weth, Public Service Director. “We’re also looking forward to assisting Parks and Recreation as they expand the greenway system.”

Officials said although the goal will be to build two miles in-house per year through the new Greenways Service Crew, a large resurfacing project of an existing greenway could occasionally affect that number.

The Greenways Service Crew is the most recent reorganization effort to enhance service on City greenways. In 2012, Mayor Rogero and Police Chief David Rausch announced the Knoxville Police Department’s Parks and Greenways Patrol unit, a team of eight officers that systematically surveys all parks and greenways within the City.

Knox gets $500K grant for I.C. King

I.C. King Park

Knox County is receiving a $500,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for improvements to I.C. King Park in South Knoxville.

The improvements will be made in a newly-acquired 70-acre addition of the park. The county acquired the land adjoining the original I.C. King park last year.

The acquisition and grant are expected to help Knox County provide new park amenities, increase the park size to 219 acres and create a new entrance to the existing park land.

TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau will present Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett with a check for the grant  on Wednesday. The check presentation will take place at 3:45 p.m. at the I.C. King Park addition off Maryville Pike.

Renderings of the proposed park layout and improvements will be on display at the check presentation.

Input sought for S. Knoxville park

Knox County is hosting two public meeting to gather input for a new South Knoxville park.

The county last year acquired a 70-acre tract that adjoins IC King Park and connects to Maryville Pike. The acquisition will offer the ability to provide new park amenities, increase the park size to 219 acres, and allow for a new entrance to the existing park land that will create much safer access to the park.

Knox County is applying for a TDEC Local Parks and Recreation Fund Grant that could provide up to $500,000 for development of the new land. The development proposal includes parking, picnic shelter, children’s play area, rest rooms, shared-use trails and a dog park.  

The meetings are set for march 21 (4-6 p.m.) in the Small Assembly Room at the City County Building and March 24 (5-7 p.m.) at Mount Olive Elementary School Cafeteria.

2nd Saturday concerts kick off 6-13

Knox County's summer concert series, Second Saturday Concerts at The Cove, continues this year with live entertainment for the whole family. The free concerts, held June through September on the second Saturday of each month, take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Cove at Concord Park, 11808 S. Northshore Drive. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own blankets or lawn chairs.

The dates and bands for summer 2015 are:

June 13 – Second Opinion

July 11 – Kitty Wampus

Aug. 8 – Shane

Sept. 12 – The Hitmen

If any concert has to be canceled due to inclement weather, a notification will be posted to the Knox County Parks & Rec Facebook page RIGHT HERE  and the Knox County homepage RIGHT HERE.

I.C. King Park closed through May

KUB and its contractor, Southeast Connections, will close I.C. King Park starting Monday, March 2, and lasting through May 2015, as work is completed in this area for the South Loop Natural Gas Pipeline Installation Project, according to a county news release.

In cooperation with Knox County Parks and Recreation, and to ensure the public’s safety, the entire park will be closed as construction is in progress. Barricades and signage are in place at the park’s entrances to notify visitors of the closure.

This project will provide a portion of the connecting pipeline that will allow the University of Tennessee to convert its coal-fired steam plant to natural gas by late 2015. This plant conversion will remove the second largest source of airborne pollution in East Tennessee, and will be the equivalent of taking 7,000 passenger vehicles off the road each day. Additionally, this pipeline will improve the overall reliability of KUB’s natural gas distribution system, and allow for future natural gas demands.

KUB will post regular updates throughout the project on its website at www.kub.org, and on the KUB Facebook page. Additionally, KUB has set up a blog RIGHT HERE to keep customers informed about project milestones. Customers can send their e-mail address to blog@kub.org (please reference South Loop in the subject line) to receive updates on the project. Customers can also call 558-2331 after normal business hours to leave a message that will be followed-up with a call from a KUB representative by the end of the next business day.

Halls greenway now moving forward

A long-awaited greenway project in the Halls community is moving forward this week, according to a county release.

In July, Knox County was prepared to take ownership of property owned by TTC Halls, LLC in order to construct a portion of the Halls Park-to-School Link greenway and to protect an important wetland area.

Recently, the project was delayed due to issues surrounding wetland mitigation required by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. According TDEC, much of the required mitigation work has been completed. As final details surrounding the affected portion of the greenway are worked out, Knox County is preparing to move forward with the construction of the greenway.

The official groundbreaking will take place on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the site of the future Clayton Park, 7347 Norris Freeway (between Maynardville Pike and Emory Road).

Halls greenway project now on hold

Well, this isn't good. The latest from the counnty:

A long-awaited greenway project in the Halls community is being slowed by state bureaucracy and a complaint by the Tennessee Clean Water Network.

Knox County was prepared to take ownership of property currently owned by TTC Halls, LLC in order to construct a portion of the Halls Park-to-School Link greenway and to protect an important wetland area.  Unfortunately, wetland mitigation work on the property required by TDEC has not been completed and TCWN has filed a letter of noncompliance with the TDEC Division of Water Resources.  That move effectively stops the greenway project, just as an important state grant deadline looms on Sept. 30.

“If Knox County accepts the property from TTC Halls, we will also have to accept responsibility for the wetland mitigation project and its related problems, costs and required monitoring over the next several years,” said Knox County Parks and Recreation Director Doug Bataille. “While we hate to not move this project forward, we also feel that it would not be in the best interests of the taxpayers to assume the responsibility for the mitigation project and any potential problems that may arise from it.”

The cost to fix the issues outlined in the TCWN letter is estimated to range from $20,000 to $75,000, but ultimately the final price tag cannot be known at this time.

Although the portion of the greenway that would cross over the TTC Halls property is just over 14 percent of the entire planned greenway, by state regulation no portion of the Halls Park-to-School link can move forward until the issue between TCWN, TDEC and TTC Halls is resolved.

“This greenway is an important and worthwhile project, and it’s unfortunate that the 85 percent of the greenway that isn’t mired in bureaucratic red tape can’t move forward because of these issues,” said Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett.  “I hope this problem can be resolved, and Knox County can continue to move forward with the planned greenway in a timely manner. In the meantime, I’ve asked Knox County Parks and Recreation to focus on completing Clayton Park, which will be a great addition to our parks system and should be open by the end of the year.”

Demo work set for Lakeshore Park

The 1.5 million demolition work will begin at Lakeshore Park on Monday, as crews raze nine surplus buildings that were once part of the state of Tennessee’s Lakeshore Mental Health Institute campus, the city announced in a new release today.

During the next nine months, nine of the largest buildings at Lakeshore Park will be taken down.

A patchwork of antiquated utilities – water, sewer, gas and electric lines – that in some cases predate World War II will be upgraded starting later this year.

In addition to the demolition and utility work, the City is renovating the historic Lakeshore Administration Building – a $1.1 million project that restores 14,115 square feet of space. This building was constructed in 1884 and overlooks much of Lakeshore Park.

All combined, the City will be spending about $5.2 million this year on infrastructure, demolition and other improvements at Lakeshore Park, setting the stage for private fundraising and implementation of an ambitious park master plan over the next two decades.

“We’ll really be able to start building this park up once these obstacles are removed,” said Joe Walsh, the City’s Parks and Recreation Director. “We’ll have a blank canvas to work with.”

The City’s infrastructure and demolition work will leverage grants and private fundraising by the nonprofit Lakeshore Park Inc. as pieces of the sweeping park master plan are put into place over the next 20 years.

For example, one of the planned park improvements outlined in the master plan will be a near doubling in length of the Lakeshore Park Greenway, from 2.25 miles to over 4 miles.

The City’s current round of work will remove unsafe buildings that attract vagrants and trespassers, with utility services at the park to be modernized in the coming year. But aesthetic improvement – creating open, natural areas in Lakeshore Park – is another big part of why the City is investing in these projects.

Five former state-owned buildings will remain at Lakeshore Park: Two cottages, the Administration Building, the chapel and a central services warehouse.

You can check out the Lakeshore Park master plan or see the results of a survey of more than 500 park users on their redevelopment preferences RIGHT SMACK HERE and HERE.

Knox splash pads open for the season

Knox County Parks and Recreation will open its splash pads for the 2014 season on Saturday, according to latest county spin deal.

Splash pads are automated water playgrounds for kids of all ages. Knox County’s splash pads are located at three parks: Carl Cowan Park, New Harvest Park and Powell Station Park. They are open, weather permitting, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. spring through fall.

For more information click right smack here.

Mayors honor parks/rec volunteers

The Parks and Recreation departments for the City of Knoxville and Knox County held a Volunteer Awards Ceremony this morning to recognize those individuals who strive to make a difference in our community through recreation, according to the latest spin release by Michael "Big Sexy" Grider, county communications manager of two.

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett presented the awards to each of the 25 winners who were nominated by their peers for the exemplary volunteer commitment they have demonstrated in our community.

2013 Parks and Recreation volunteer award winners

“I consider it an honor to recognize our local volunteers who invest their personal time and resources in service to our community,” said Mayor Rogero. “They do this simply because they care.”

“Each of these outstanding volunteers deserves recognition for the time and energy they put in to making our community a better place to live,” said Mayor Burchett. “I appreciate all they do and thank them for their service to Knox County.”

The 25 award winners range from sports commissioners and coaches to youth recreation leaders and senior center volunteers. You can find out who won by clicking right smack here for the full list.

County meeting to discuss 'blueway'

Knox County is looking to create a "blueway" that will make it easier for families and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy Beaver Creek, according to the latest spin deal sent over from Michael "Big Sexy" Grider. As part of the project, the county will host a public informational meeting at the Karns Community Center on Oak Ridge Highway next Tuesday from 6-7:30 p.m.

For the rest of the info, click right smack here.

Mayor Burchett to go creek wading

Ah, I yearn for the days when county communications manager-of-two Michael “Big Sexy” Grider did NOT flood my email inbox with “friendly reminders' tied to whatever the heck Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett is doing.

Heh.

Now? Well now, Jennifer “da Kid” Lightning-something-or-other sends them.

Rambling a bit here.

Anyhoo, tomorrow the mayor will wade into Beaver Creek as part of a "fish assessment activity" during a “Families in the Creek” event.

No, really. That's what the email said, although it spins it as “an educational opportunity for families to explore a local creek and learn about water quality issues.”

I figure that, really, the mayor just got himself a waterproof metal detector and he wants to try it out.

The event, also hosted by the county's stormwater management and par and rec departments in conjunction with the Beaver Creek Task Force, is set for 10 a.m. at the Halls Grenway behind Food City, 7114 Maynardville Pike.

Vote for recreation difference-maker

The city and county recreation departments are seeking nominations to recognize “those individuals who strive to make a difference in our community through recreation."

Submit names for the “Volunteer Awards Recognition” right smack here.

Finalist get to attend an award ceremony where they can hang out with Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero at a fancy reception.

Family 'creek' event set for May 18

The county and the Beaver Creek Task Force will host "Families in the Creek," some kind of educational thing for folks to explore a local creek or something, according to Michael "Big Sexy" Grider's new staffer, Jennifer "da Kid" Linginfelter.

The event doesn't take place until May 18, so I'm betting that Mrs. Linginfelter will flood my email inbox with such reminders. Anyhoo, it runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Halls Greenway. County Mayor Tim "Bigfoot" Burchett plans to attend.

The shindig is free, but limited to the first 40 people who register. Children must be age 7 or older to hang out. Equipment, waders and lunch will be provided.

You can read the whole spin thing right smack here.

Knox Parks and Rec survey now online

The Knox County Parks and Recreation Department is seeking public feedback about county parks, greenways, sports programs and special events. Click right smack here for this year's 20-question survey.

The info collected determines what parks are the most popular and how satisfied participants are with county sports programs. It also helps determine what new amenities folks want, and other ways the department can better serve the area.

Audit finds issues in several offices

Officials on Tuesday made public the county's “single audit report findings and recommendations” during a more than four-hour long Audit Committee meeting. It was a killer. The meeting, I mean.

Anyhoo, I wrote about some of the issues auditors touched on in the Trustee's Office right smack here. But there were some other matters, albeit much smaller, officials noted. I'll have a story on that for tomorrow, but essentially a number of fees offices and a few departments in the executive branch, like parks and recreation and probation, were called out for some minor things.

Course those minor things could lead to major issues. But at this point, they haven't. At least, according to the bean counters looking through the financial statements.

In the meantime, click right smack here for the report.

Annual Lightfest this Saturday

The Knox County Parks and Recreation Department and the Concord Marina Captains Club will host the fourth annual Lightfest for Tots, a lighted boat parade, this Saturday from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The public is obviously invited because this information comes from one of those county spin releases and the event is free. But new, unwrapped toys and cash donations will be accepted for the Toys for Tots program (that's a hint there, folks.) You can view the boat parade at the marina, 10903 S. Northshore Drive.

The event also will have bonfires and free hot drinks, hot dogs and Santa gifts for children.

Carl Cowan Park to get new playground

In light of the recent lunacy, how 'bout something a little softer?

The county's parks and recreation department is building a new playground at Carl Cowan Park off S. Northshore Drive in west Knox County. It will replace some old crap that dates back to the 1980s. (Wow, that doesn't seem so old now that I think about it. But I digress.)

“The playground at Carl Cowan was the oldest in our system,” parks and recreation director Doug Bataille, Senior Director said in the latest spin release. “With the number of visitors the park gets, especially during the summer months when the splashpad is open, an upgrade was needed for safety reasons.”

The playground is for children up to age 12. It has some swings, slides, a climbing wall, a climbing web, some agility stations and activity panels, and it sounds way, way, freakin' cooler than anything I got to play on when I was little.