Council approves $500,000 Volunteer Landing grant; residents urge more investment in youth programming

The Knoxville City Council approved a resolution to accept a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant of up to $500,000 to fund park infrastructure improvements at Volunteer Landing. The vote came after extended public comment and council questions about whether federal capital dollars should be used where neighborhoods say program funding and staff are also needed.

Why it mattered: Constance Every, a resident speaking in opposition to aspects of the item, told council parks and recreation receives a small share of the city budget and urged greater investment in youth programming, referees, uniforms and operating resources rather than capital infrastructure alone. “When we do put money into the city park and rec budget, it's normally going to infrastructure, but we need to continue to invest in our children,” she told council.

Parks director answers and master plan timeline Cheryl Ealy, director of Parks and Recreation, said the HUD grant is capital in nature and cannot be repurposed by the city to pay for staffing or regular programming costs. “No, ma'am. It is for our infrastructure,” she said, explaining the $500,000 would fund soft costs such as design and planning fees to repair the popular fountain and other water‑play features at Volunteer Landing.

Ealy told council the department is starting a parks and recreation master plan update this year, which staff hope to complete by the end of the year. She said public engagement would begin in March, and consultants will work with staff and community groups to review programming, infrastructure and staffing needs.

Council comments and next steps Councilmember Singh said the master plan process is an appropriate time to address long‑term staffing and programming questions and thanked staff for beginning that work. Councilmember McKenzie and others urged the city to ensure public engagement reaches all neighborhoods with rec centers that may be aging and need both infrastructure and operational investment.

Ealy said the Volunteer Landing project was selected because of its visible water play features and the need to address their ongoing operation and cleaning costs; repairs to make the amenity reliable were described as a priority in the department’s capital planning. She said the HUD grant would pay for design and soft costs to make the site functional and noted federal grants for parks are commonly limited to capital needs.

Outcome Council approved the grant acceptance. Parks staff said they will continue public engagement through the master plan process, and councilmembers asked staff to explore programmatic funding opportunities and grants to address the operating and youth programming concerns raised at the meeting.