A section of the Little Tennessee River Greenway that has been closed could likely soon see work done to repair and reopen it.
The river has undercut a section of the trail at Centennial Park, where the trail splits into two for a few hundred feet. The trail section closest to the river has been closed for more than a year.
According to Macon County Parks and Recreation Director Seth Adams, the county just got word back from the state in late July regarding Centennial Park.
“In order to work, we need approval from the state and the Army Corps of Engineers,” Adams said on Aug. 1. “We’re getting ready to get that finalized OK from the Army Corps of Engineers and then that work will be released for bid.”
Macon County Manager Derek Roland was asked about Centennial Park during the Eggs and Issues business forum on Aug. 4.
“As you know, any time you do anything on the Little Tennessee River you got to go through an extensive approval process with the Army Corps of Engineers,” Roland said. “In this situation, it happens to be the Department of Environmental Quality with endangered species on the Greenway.”
Roland said the engineering is done and the permits are filled out, but the county is waiting on approval to start due to endangered species regulations.
Adams said one endangered species is the Virginia spiraea, a white flower that is of the rose family native to the southern Appalachian Mountains. The second is the spotfin chub fish, a type of minnow only found in the Tennessee River basin. Roland mentioned a third, the Appalachian elktoe mussel.
Endangered species must be cleared out of harm’s way before any work begins.
“They had us held up for a while,” Adams said of those two endangered species. “We’re going to get on it as soon as we can.”
Roland said everyone knows the wheels of government turn slow, but since this involves multiple levels of government, they turn even slower.
“We’re working to get there and hope to soon,” Roland said of the Centennial Park repairs.
Recreation Master Plan
The first Recreation Master Plan for Veterans Memorial Park in at least 15 years could be presented as soon as September, according to Adams.
The public survey that was part of the plan is wrapping up with a work session held Tuesday, Aug. 8, after which, there will be a couple of days for public input.
“And next month, we will have a finalized plan,” Adams said.
In April, the Macon County Board of Commissioners authorized McGill Associates to come up with a master plan for the park. The cost of the plan is $37,980.
The plan focuses on Veterans Memorial Park and the outdoor facilities at the Robert Carpenter Community Building, but not the building itself.
Adams said in April that some of the facilities in the park haven’t been updated in decades, and the park hasn’t seen large-scale changes since the 1970s.
As stated in April, a benefit to doing a recreation master plan is that it would make potential renovations to the park eligible for state money from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF).
One of the metrics in the PARTF grant process is citizen input. While Adams didn’t say how many online surveys were filled out in the recent study, he did say it wasn’t as many as the Town of Franklin got for the Whitmire Property, which had more than 500 completed representing nearly 1,000 people.
For those who’ve noticed the lack of air conditioning at the community building, it’s going to be longer before it gets installed.
Adams said they need two HVAC units; one is ready for installation and the other is being built now. Both need to be installed at the same time.
“It takes a crane to install,” Adams said of the units. “Like anything else, you never know when you’re going to get it.”
The HVAC systems were ordered several months ago, but there’s no telling when they will arrive, Adams said.
“Hopefully we’ll get it before winter,” Adams said.