Cookeville Planning Commission Approves New Facilities.

Cookeville Planning Commission approved the preliminary plat for Putnam County’s new School Bus Garage and County Maintenance facility.

The facility will be built across from the new fairgrounds on Tennessee Avenue. A new road, Putnam Parkway, will connect to the facility. Community Development Director Jon Ward said the city will be limiting access to Tennessee Avenue as it develops. The road is a local interstate connector street with limited connections.

The facility will replace the school bus garage just off Jefferson Avenue and the maintenance department located near Avery Trace Middle School. County Commissioners voted to construct the facilities together to take advantage of synergies between the two. Commissioners voted to sell the old bus garage property, adjacent to Wal-Mart. The current school bus garage is undersized and its location makes it difficult for buses to enter and exit.

The county delayed Planning Commission approval for three months while awaiting TVA clearance on power lines across the property.