Parks staff say Blue Cross grant would fund turnkey playground near Public Works; splash pad excluded

Parks staff told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee on Sept. 15 that the city applied for Blue Cross of Tennessee’s Healthy Places grant to install a turnkey playground on a roughly 2‑acre city‑owned parcel near the new Public Works Development Center, with award notification expected by the end of the year.

The application closed Sept. 1 and, if awarded, would supply a prefabricated playground and related site equipment under a turnkey arrangement. “It’s a 100% grant turnkey,” a parks staff member said, adding that the city would still incur some site‑preparation costs but that those would be “minimal compared to what we would get in the long run.”

Committee members were shown a preliminary site plate and survey materials the parks staff said were submitted as part of the application package. Staff described the proposed location as the flat parcel immediately past the roundabout on…