Fairview approves schematic design for Historical Village Park, approves applying for state parks grant

The Fairview Board of Commissioners on Oct. 16 approved the schematic design for Historical Village Park and authorized the city to apply for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Local Parks and Recreation Fund (LPRF) grant for construction funding.

The vote, on Resolution 58-25, was 5-0. The resolution authorizes staff to seek LPRF funding and to proceed with design and application work; it also approves the schematic design presented tonight by the project team.

The park schematic, presented by Monica Gilliam, a landscape architect with Kimley-Horn, lays out a roughly three-acre site that would preserve existing historic buildings and add a farmers market pavilion, 24 vendor bays, an open-air stage and amphitheater lawn, a standalone restroom and storage building, a 38-space main parking lot plus 13 spaces adjacent to the Triangle School (51 spaces total), and ADA-compliant walkways connecting the features. Gilliam said the farmers market pavilion will be “open air” with space for 24 vendors and that the amphitheater lawn is about 21,000 square feet.

“I’m very excited to be here with you, to finally unveil the schematic design for Historical Village Park that we’ve been working on over this past year with city staff and with stakeholders,” Gilliam said.

The design shows a 30-by-112-foot timber-frame farmers market building, removable bollards for controlled vehicle access to the stage, an expanded water-quality/detention pond to meet city standards and a fenced edge to that pond. The stage is oriented so sound projects toward the lawn and away from Highway 100; architects plan electric, lighting and speaker runs for evening use and amplified events.

Commissioners spent the majority of discussion on site details and operations: parking, pedestrian access across Highway 100, sound buffering from the highway, future expansion of historic buildings, maintenance and utilities. Commissioner Buffalini and others pressed the team on noise mitigation along Highway 100 and on whether additional parking or a safer pedestrian crossing would be needed for events. Tom (staff) and others noted the city owns seven acres about 200 yards down Deer Ridge that could serve as overflow parking for large events, and staff said churches and the recreation center currently allow interim event parking.

City Manager (Mister Daugherty) and Finance staff said funding sources could include tree bank funds (about $600,000 in that fund), permit-fee allocations to parks and private donations; Daugherty estimated the site’s land value conservatively at about $600,000 and said staff do not foresee trouble meeting a required local match if the grant is awarded. He also said the city has been paying the design consultant as invoices were submitted.

Kimley-Horn staff explained that the TDEC LPRF grant is a 50-50 match: TDEC would fund half of construction costs and the city must provide the other half. Because the city already owns the park site, TDEC allows the city to count the appraised land value toward the local match if the city agrees to keep the land as parkland in perpetuity. The project team estimated total project costs at about $2,200,000, which would imply a city share of roughly $1,100,000 before applying land-value credit.

Grant timing: applications open in January and run through April, with awards typically announced in August. The project team and consultant indicated they would help prepare the application; consultants noted that previous applicants were rejected only when application forms were incomplete.

Commissioners also asked about operational details: pavilion electrical outlets for vendors, vehicle access for loading, temporary bollards, pedestrian-level lighting for safety, the need to expand the existing detention pond to handle run-off from new impervious surfaces, and the potential for a future events/registration module so users could reserve the pavilion and upload insurance documents online.

The resolution approved by the board authorizes staff to apply for the LPRF grant and to execute necessary documents if awarded; it also approves the schematic design as the city’s conceptual plan to move forward into more detailed design. Gilliam and the design team said further refinements — including potential adjustments to parking layout, buffering vegetation, and detailed sound design — would be part of the next design phase. The board asked that revised plans be circulated publicly and to commissioners before permit submission.

The board approved the resolution by a roll-call vote: Mayor Anderson, Vice Mayor McDonald, Commissioners Hall, Roberts and Buffalini all voted “aye.”

The board also discussed related operational and safety issues that will be addressed in the next design phase, including formal rental and event procedures to be established by the parks department, and possible use of the city’s nearby vacant acreage for long-term overflow parking.