News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Sparta officials will begin the negotiation process to purchase a 120-acre lot in the city bordering Winding Lane.
Aldermen agreed to beginning negotiations. Mayor Jerry Lowery said the city intends to turn the land into a park with over 3,700 feet of riverfront access. Lowery said he hopes the property will be purchased within one month.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, and this is a long-range planning, but there’s very little opportunities to buy 120 acres with riverfront property inside the city limits,” Lowery said. “And so that don’t happen all the time, so I think it’s a great purchase that we need to pursue.”
Aldermen will begin the search for a realtor to represent them for the negotiation. Lowery said any realtor fees incurred during the process would be covered by the property seller. Alderman Travis McBride said he spoke to multiple people in the area who told him they liked the idea of the city owning the land.
“Rather than being developed for, like, subdivisions and stuff, they liked the idea of a park or something, a green space,” McBride said.
Lowery said potential plans for the land include kayak docks, fishing docks, walking trails, biking trails, and space for frisbee golf.
“That’s our goal, is to take possession of that land in the near future, and then start applying for some grants and things like that to try to get this things started in the right direction for a park,” Lowery said.
Two citizens living near the property spoke to the board, expressing concerns that a park would worsen traffic in the area and allow for people to cause trouble there late at night. Lowery said it would be a long time before a park is built there.
“It ain’t turning to a park overnight,” Lowery said. “Just saying. It’s going to be a long time. It’s going to be a while, if it happens at all.”
