Cookeville Applying For Grant For New Park

Cookeville will apply for a grant to potentially build out a park on Old Sparta Road, off Highway 111.

The BlueCross Healthy Places grant could be worth up to $5 million. Leisure Services Director Rick Woods said the 16-acres could contain a playground, picnic shelter, trails and potentially a splashpad. Woods said the need for a park in the southern part of town identified in the city’s comprehensive 2030 plan.

“We don’t have any developed park land south of I-40 and our community is growing in that area,” Woods said. “We do have residents down there that have to make quite a drive to get up to where we do have parks currently, so that’s been identified as a need for a number of years.”

Woods said that even if Cookeville is not awarded the grant, the city will look for other opportunities to fund it. He said the land will still be used for a park in the future. When the city purchased the land, a previous council noted they hoped it would be used for a multi-faceted aquatic facility.

“We hope to get the assistance of the grant to be able to develop the park but we intend to develop the park, it just may not go as quickly if we do not get the grant, but it will still be dedicated park land,” Woods said.

Woods said the department wants to be able to have greenspaces and outdoor areas throughout the community so this is a good opportunity to develop a basic park.

“People need to be able to get out and enjoy nature,” Woods said. “They need to be able to get out and enjoy play and be active and so trails and playgrounds and that sort of thing are important to the community, throughout the community.”

The Department of Leisure Services will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the park. Woods said the city wants to hear public ideas and opinion. Residents are invited to attend the meeting and express opinions and ask questions.

Woods said the city will not know if they are awarded the grand until early 2025 and there is no specific timeline on development.