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Cookeville City Council elected to settle a lawsuit concerning the playground at Dogwood Park.
Attorney Bob Walker represented the city throughout the lawsuit. He said the future of the agreement lies within the Cookeville Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
“The city will cooperate with Mr. (Woody) Welch to go before the BZA and try to get approval from the BZA for a variance to enable him to build, at his own expense, a sound barrier between him and the playground,” Walker said. “If the BZA grants his application for a variance, then the case will be settled, they will dismiss the lawsuit, and the city will pay the Welches $20,000 as settlement.”
Walker said the agreement includes some limitations if the BZA does approve the proposal.
“When they grant the variance, there are some restrictions about how they can go about building [the barrier] so it’s not to interfere with the use and the safety of the playground,” Walker said, “and some more trees to create barriers, make it visibly-acceptable to both the playground and to the Welches.”
If the BZA denies the request, the lawsuit will go to trial July 29. The Welches and the City of Cookeville have worked on the lawsuit since the Welches filed in 2016.
Council members voted Thursday 3-2 in favor of the settlement. Council members Eric Walker, Mark Miller, and Vice Mayor Laurin Wheaton were the three yes votes, while Mayor Ricky Shelton and Councilman Charles Womack voted against the proposal.
