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Historic school to be razed for youth

by G. Chambers Williams III


This old school building on Sixth Street in Rocky Top, which once served black children, will be torn down soon to make way for more outdoor play space for the Boys and Girls Club of Lake City, which operates a facility on this site for middle school students. - G. Chambers Williams III
The Rocky Top City Council last Thursday evening gave its approval to plans by the Boys and Girls Club of Lake City to tear down an old elementary school-kindergarten building on Sixth Street to make room for additional outdoor activity space for middle school kids.

Built in 1957 as an elementary school for Black children in Lake City, then later converted to use for kindergarten kids, the one-story brick building has deteriorated to the point where “it has become a bit of a safety hazard,” said Bart McFadden, president and chief-executive officer of the Knoxville-based Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley.

The Boys and Girls Club of Lake City had used the old school as its office space for several years, but the building has been vacant for a while, club officials said.

It’s on the same site as the building that previously housed the Head Start operation for pre-school children in Lake City/Rocky Top, on property that previously was owned by the Anderson County Board of Education.

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Rocky Top ordinance targets slum cleanup

by G. Chambers Williams III

Slum properties can now be cleaned up by the city of Rocky Top – with the costs charged to the property owners, under an ordinance passed on second and final reading last Thursday evening by the City Council.

Under Ordinance 600, called the Slum Clearance and Redevelopment Act, city staff will soon begin identifying and cleaning up derelict commercial and residential properties within the city limits and billing their owners for all expenses associated with the work.

Passed on a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Mack Bunch absent, the measure technically is an update of Title 13 of the city’s municipal code, adding the legal mechanism to allow for such cleanups.

“This city needs this ordinance,” Mayor Kerry Templin said during the February council meeting when the measure came up for a vote on first reading. “It gives us the tools to deal with these decrepit properties. We can hire contractors to do it, or we can do it ourselves.”

Under the policy, the city will also be able to place liens on the properties in the amounts of the cleanup costs.

If any such bills aren’t paid to the city, Rocky Top can eventually foreclose on the properties and take ownership of them, the mayor said.

The city has long been plagued by run-down properties that are not kept maintained by their often absentee owners, Templin said.

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City seeks public input on park project

by Ben Pounds


The city of Clinton plans to add this forested area next to Carden Farm Dog Park as a park, and plans to apply for a state grant to do so. - Ben Pounds
The city of Clinton is looking to develop land next to Carden Farm Dog Park into a new city park, and officials want public input.

Residents are invited to attend the Clinton Recreation Advisory Board meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday (March 26).

According to city parks staff, the proposed Otho Brown Park is still in the early planning stages, and specific features have yet to be finalized.

At its meeting Monday, March 24, the Clinton City Council unanimously approved submitting an application to the state of Tennessee for a Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant. Council member Brian Hatmaker was absent.

Amanda Carter, administrative assistant with Clinton Parks and Recreation, and Taylor Cullison, recreation coordinator for programs, told The Courier News the city does not yet know how much funding it might receive.

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