Fentress Commissioners Agree to Run Ad for Land Purchase

Fentress County voted Monday night to run an ad soliciting land for the future Agriculture pavilion.

Commissioners voted against purchasing 15 acres on South York Highway Monday. The price of that land: $15,000 per acre.

During a special called meeting, county commissioners cited issues with eight different parcels considered for the project. They include price, too much timber, too much ground water and even an old poor house cemetery located on one parcel.

Fentress County Mayor Jimmy Johnson said it’s important to consider the benefits of buying enough land to have more than a building and a parking lot.

“There’s so many things that can be done if you have a little bit more land, you know you get into your projects, it’s not just shows, it’s not your cattle, beef, hog or some type of horse show,” Johnson said. “It gets into your forestry stuff, your soil judging, your crops that you can plant out there and say this is what sagebrush looks like.”

The commission decided the ad would focus on a minimum of ten acres that are cleared and suitable for building on Highway 127 or Highway 52. Johnson said the advertisement might solicit something even better than a seller.

“Somebody along the bypass may say, ‘hey, you know this is what we want to do, we wanna donate some or you pay for part and we’ll donate half of what you wanna buy,” Johnson said.

A $150,000 Agriculture grant will pay for part of the project. The money must be used by May 2021.