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 Stones River Road, on the approach toward the boat ramp, on land the city already owns adjacent to the Public Works facility. Staff said the project design would tie sidewalks into the roundabout and connect to an existing concrete path behind the Public Works building.

Why it matters: staff said the site would serve a large nearby subdivision and could connect to the city’s Greenway if future funding permits. The parks staff described the neighborhood as “the largest subdivision in the state of Tennessee,” with “over 3,000 homes” nearby. That proximity, staff said, strengthens the grant application.

Splash pad omitted: staff recommended not including a splash pad in this application. They cited ongoing maintenance and parts‑availability problems at other jurisdictions where pumps and proprietary parts led to long outages. “You gotta figure out how you’re gonna recycle that water,” the parks staff member said, noting past municipal experience with failing pump systems and long replacement lead times.

Greenway and longer‑term projects: staff said the playground site could be tied into an eventual Greenway extension toward the boat ramp. They estimated the next Greenway extension at about 1.2 miles and said engineering alone for a lakeside project would cost “over $400,000.” Staff and another committee member discussed a potential minimum city contribution of about $2,000,000 to construct the lakeside connection; staff said work on engineering and other site preparation would be needed before that larger project could proceed. Parks staff also said they have made “inroads” with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on lake access issues but that securing construction funding remained a separate challenge.

Timeline and community input: staff said the grant typically notifies applicants by December and that the application included required community input: a survey posted on the parks Facebook page on Aug. 12, letters of support, photos and video, and a preliminary site plat. Staff said they remain optimistic because the community documentation was extensive.

Next steps: staff recommended making the site “site‑ready” so that if the city is not selected this year it would be better prepared for future grant cycles, and they told the committee that some preparatory grading work already planned for the area could reduce incremental local cost. Committee members asked about pedestrian crossings at Stones River and requested that staff consider additional signage, lights or strobes at the roundabout crosswalk to improve safety.

No formal action was taken on the grant application at the meeting; staff presented the application status and fielded committee questions.