New Master Plan For Cookeville’s Dogwood Park

The City of Cookeville has received a copy of the new master plan for Dogwood Park.

Cookeville Department of Leisure Services director Rick Woods said one of the areas of concern was helping people better access the park.

“What we heard from the community primarily was connectivity,” Woods said. “They wanted to see better pedestrian connectivity in particular, so we have new entryways in the plan from Dixie Avenue coming down Freeze Street and connecting to the park from Dixie Avenue. We have a new entryway on First Street that is in the plan, and we have a new entryway on North Walnut Avenue.”

Woods said the city has been working off the original master plan created when the park was expanded in 2007, but new growth called for a new plan.

“We also recently acquired some additional property on First Street that connects with the park, and we’re looking toward the future of the police department relocating,” Woods said. “That opens up some space that is currently city owned and adjacent to Dogwood Park.”

Woods said that although the master plan has been delivered, there is still a lot of work to do before Cookeville can implement any changes.

“The next step for us is to complete the cost estimate and to get priorities,” Woods said. “What can we address? What is that low hanging fruit, so to speak, and we can take care of right away? What are some things we can look at in finding funding mechanisms, and how do go about funding the more long-term, costly items that may be in the plan?”

The master plan was developed by HFR Design of Brentwood, TN in conjunction with a citizen’s committee of ten members of the local community.