Land Search Continues For State Veterans Cemetery

Land for an Upper Cumberland State Veterans Cemetery still hasn’t been located.

Travis Murphy is the Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Veterans Services. He said the State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management (STREAM) team continues to face challenges in finding suitable land.

“Deputy Commissioner Goins and I sat down with STREAM in Mid July. We talked a little bit about search parameters and where we’ve been searching,” Murphy said. “As I mentioned in the last meeting, we’ve been getting a number of referrals. I think what we’re finding is that the expectations of the land owners are a little outside of what the state believes the market would bear for those properties.”

Murphy said the state plans to meet with STREAM in mid-August to get another update on the property search.

“We’re continuing to look,” Murphy said. “We want to focus on ease of access, the suitability of the property, and the cost.”

The Upper Cumberland State Veterans Cemetery Association (UCSVCA) met Friday to Discuss the six-year-old project. Cumberland County UCSVCA member Shawn Brunelle said the state should consider speeding up the site selection process.

“You’re going to have to pay for accessibility, but it’s not going to get any cheaper for the state the longer they put this off,” Brunelle said. “It’s just frustrating when I have to go back to my veterans organizations in Crossville and say, ‘I don’t have anything to tell you except they are still looking.'”

The state had originally hoped to have the property purchased by July.