Rocky Top advances data center zoning, $904K field upgrades
Demolition of the bleachers at George Templin Memorial Athletic Field in Rocky Top will begin April 12. New bleachers to seat up to 400 people are among improvements to the field that are part of a $904,090 project approved late last year by the City Council, with half of the money coming from a state recreation grant. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Last Thursday, the council passed unanimously on first reading Ordinance 620, which amends the city’s zoning regulations to include data centers as a special exception to be allowed only in the M-1 Industrial zones.
Mayor Kerry Templin said the change was recommended by the city planner to allow the city to stay ahead of the issue of data centers, which are popping up all across the nation as AI (artificial intelligence) development continues its rapid growth.
He noted that these data centers are very noisy, and draw huge amounts of power from the electrical grids where they operate.
“Nobody has yet told us they want to bring a data center here, but it was recommended by the planner that we designate a zone,” he said. “Nothing in our zoning now addresses data centers. But you can get a lot of [tax] revenue out of them.”
Meanwhile, to kick off improvements to Rocky Top’s George Templin Memorial Athletic Field, the contractor will begin demolition of the bleachers on April 12, City Manager Mike Ellis told the council during last week’s meeting.
The council in December approved a $904,090 contract for modernizing the ballpark, which includes new bleachers, press box, and concessions stand, and some restroom upgrades.
First Place Finish, Inc., an Oak Ridge-based builder, was awarded the contract for the project, for which the city has received a state recreation grant of up to $566,000.
The city must match the amount of grant funding dollar for dollar, and will do so using a U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest loan.
Besides the new bleachers, with about 400 seats, and the press box, the city also will use part of the grant to rebuild a walking trail around the park, and install a new chain-link fence around the athletic field.
Ellis has said that the seating area and other facilities, including restrooms, at the ballfield needed upgrades that would make them compliant with standards mandated by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
“We haven’t done anything with the bleachers to make them ADA-complaint, and in fact, not much has been done at the ballfield to meet ADA standards,” then-city Councilman Zack Green said in 2024, after the grant was announced.
Green was chairman of the city’s Recreation Committee, as well. He left the council in December 2024 after choosing not to run again in the November election.
The ADA requires most public facilities, as well as private facilities open to the public, to be made accessible to people with disabilities.
“The bleachers must be torn down and replaced,” Green said earlier. “This field gets a lot of use. We have Little League football there, and the [Lake City] Middle School uses it for football. There are also some slow-pitch softball leagues that use the field.”
Green was able to get the City Council’s approval at its Feb. 15, 2024, meeting to move forward with the grant application from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to help pay for the improvements.
The $566,000 award came from TDEC’s Local Parks and Recreation Fund.
Mayor Templin said at the time that the city had two years to make use of the grant before it expired.
“It would be awesome to update the restrooms, too,” the mayor said. “The field itself is in awesome shape, and we already have the new LED lights.”
The ballfield already has a new scoreboard, installed in 2024, which cost about $12,000, and the City Council approved a $5,000 city contribution to that expense. The rest came from other sources, including the Anderson County Board of Education and Anderson County Commission.
In other business last Thursday, the City Council:
n Agreed to seek a state Community Development Block Grant to help pay for a $1 million water improvement project.
n Approved a $63,000 contract with Anderson County to provide dispatch services for the city’s police and fire departments for fiscal year 2027, which begins this coming July 1.
Councilman Jeff Gilliam said he “hates handing out $63,000” for the services, but added, “It’s a necessary evil.”
The mayor said having its own staff of 24/7 dispatchers would cost the city about $250,000 a year in salaries and employee benefits.
n Agreed to award a contract of $29,677 to repair the concrete floor of the gymnasium in the Community Center, which has been damaged by a water leak underneath the floor.
The city’s own public works department will fix the leak before the floor repair is done, the mayor said.
n Unanimously passed a resolution in support of the Rocky Top Police Department’s collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency – also known as ICE – in its efforts to enforce immigration laws.
Councilman Keith Daniels said he found it “odd that we even have to make this statement.”
n Passed a resolution to allow the Police Department to establish an auxiliary police unit for the city, using volunteers who would receive the same training as police officers, and be allowed to ride along with the police – but not operate on their own.
“It would operate kind of like a volunteer fire department,” Mayor Templin said.
There might be some pay involved, but that has not been decided.
