News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Fentress County will begin planning for a new Parks and Rec Facility with a TDEC Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant.
County Executive J. Michael Cross said the county has worked on the project for over a year.
“The Fentress County Commission about a year and a half ago, we purchased thirty-three acres just south of Jamestown. And we wanted to build a new Parks and Rec facility,” Cross said. “So we applied for a master grant to do a feasibility study and that was a sixty thousand dollar grant. We got that completed and we used the information from that to apply for the LPRF grant.”
TDEC awarded Fentress County with a 225 thousand dollar grant to begin construction. The county must match the grant with 225 thousand dollars as well, Cross said.
“This initial grant gives us a chance to build a new baseball and softball field and the grading for a soccer field. Put in bathrooms, parking, lighting, concession stand, and several other items of that nature,” Cross said. “And then eventually we are going to add a walking trail and probably a cross-country trail and some other baseball and soccer fields.”
Cross said the new facility is part of a long-term ideal that may take the next decade to complete.
The Fentress County grant writer, a TDEC representative, and the Parks and Rec Committee will discuss the final plans, Cross said.
“And they will come up with an absolute concrete plan and we will obviously bring in architects and engineers to help finalize that,” Cross said. “I would suspect that that will be something that we will be active with all this fall. And I would expect construction to start probably early spring.”
