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Franklin battlefield park still lacks price tag
Design meeting yields further questions on cost, roads and visitors center
By KEVIN WALTERS
The Tennessean [Nashville, Tenn.]
July 23, 2007
FRANKLIN — Franklin's Civil War park has a new master plan, but how much it will cost to convert a 20th-century former golf course into a replica 19th-century battlefield still remains unknown — at least to the public.
Though residents and officials questioned aspects of the 110-acre park's new design, such as road construction, a visitors center and how to address state-protected wetlands, no one discussed how much the years-in-the-making project would cost taxpayers.
Neither park designer architect Peter Benton nor city Parks Director Lisa Clayton would divulge the park's construction costs Thursday after a public meeting, though both said initial figures for the project have been created.
That comes months after officials said they would tell people how much work at the $5 million, 110-acre park would cost. Officials want to recreate how the land looked circa 1864, when the Battle of Franklin raged, in order to draw more historic tourists to the area.
"This would be at least a 15-year to a 50-year plan," Clayton said Friday. "It depends on how much money comes in and how fast we want to develop (the park) or as it evolves."
None of the three city aldermen who attended the meeting — Dodson Randolph, Ernie Bacon and Pam Lewis — asked about the project's overall costs.
City aldermen will vote to approve the park's new master plan at their August meeting.
Loop road to cost $2M
Benton, who's being paid $110,000 for his work, said his firm made preliminary cost estimates in March. Those costs include a "significant amount of grading" to recreate the land's topography as well as replacing the site's acres of existing grass with bluegrass to recreate a pasture land, he said.
"The numbers need to be revised when we get better information," said Benton.
Benton returned to Franklin last week to present new park plans after state officials rejected an initial plan establishing a new visitors center on state-owned property adjoining the battlefield park site off Lewisburg Pike.
The state Historic Commission owns the other 38 acres next to the park while nearby Carnton Plantation owns an additional 10 acres.
This year, the city is prepared to spend a total of $2.1 million this year to install a new, one-way 15-foot wide loop road through the property, among other initial work.
The city paid $5 million to D.C. businessman Rod Heller for the land last year, using money raised by private nonprofit group Franklin's Charge. City officials then raised the city's hotel/motel tax from 3 percent to 4 percent and pledged to use the additional money to pay off the land's cost.
Other questions raised
About 50 residents attended the meeting, hearing questions about the site's future including the creation of a new visitors center, which might be housed in the former golf course's clubhouse.
Other options include a new building for park visitors or expansion of the long-awaited new building Carnton Plantation officials are planning.
Construction of the Fleming Center, named after local banker Sam Fleming, could now start in October after nearly four years of waiting. So far, $650,000 has been raised for the center, which might cost as much as $1.2 million, according to plantation executive director Angela Calhoun.
Carnton Plantation officials were challenged at the meeting by Elizabeth Queener about the years of delays in replacing the double-wide trailer used as plantation offices.
"All of us would be the first to say that has been a circuitous journey," Calhoun said. "It has been very challenging. We are doing our best."
Meantime, Clayton said state environmental officials are surveying the federally protected wetlands near the park created by beaver dams. Clayton said the state officials may take on the mitigation project, which could save the city money.
Eric
Design meeting yields further questions on cost, roads and visitors center
By KEVIN WALTERS
The Tennessean [Nashville, Tenn.]
July 23, 2007
FRANKLIN — Franklin's Civil War park has a new master plan, but how much it will cost to convert a 20th-century former golf course into a replica 19th-century battlefield still remains unknown — at least to the public.
Though residents and officials questioned aspects of the 110-acre park's new design, such as road construction, a visitors center and how to address state-protected wetlands, no one discussed how much the years-in-the-making project would cost taxpayers.
Neither park designer architect Peter Benton nor city Parks Director Lisa Clayton would divulge the park's construction costs Thursday after a public meeting, though both said initial figures for the project have been created.
That comes months after officials said they would tell people how much work at the $5 million, 110-acre park would cost. Officials want to recreate how the land looked circa 1864, when the Battle of Franklin raged, in order to draw more historic tourists to the area.
"This would be at least a 15-year to a 50-year plan," Clayton said Friday. "It depends on how much money comes in and how fast we want to develop (the park) or as it evolves."
None of the three city aldermen who attended the meeting — Dodson Randolph, Ernie Bacon and Pam Lewis — asked about the project's overall costs.
City aldermen will vote to approve the park's new master plan at their August meeting.
Loop road to cost $2M
Benton, who's being paid $110,000 for his work, said his firm made preliminary cost estimates in March. Those costs include a "significant amount of grading" to recreate the land's topography as well as replacing the site's acres of existing grass with bluegrass to recreate a pasture land, he said.
"The numbers need to be revised when we get better information," said Benton.
Benton returned to Franklin last week to present new park plans after state officials rejected an initial plan establishing a new visitors center on state-owned property adjoining the battlefield park site off Lewisburg Pike.
The state Historic Commission owns the other 38 acres next to the park while nearby Carnton Plantation owns an additional 10 acres.
This year, the city is prepared to spend a total of $2.1 million this year to install a new, one-way 15-foot wide loop road through the property, among other initial work.
The city paid $5 million to D.C. businessman Rod Heller for the land last year, using money raised by private nonprofit group Franklin's Charge. City officials then raised the city's hotel/motel tax from 3 percent to 4 percent and pledged to use the additional money to pay off the land's cost.
Other questions raised
About 50 residents attended the meeting, hearing questions about the site's future including the creation of a new visitors center, which might be housed in the former golf course's clubhouse.
Other options include a new building for park visitors or expansion of the long-awaited new building Carnton Plantation officials are planning.
Construction of the Fleming Center, named after local banker Sam Fleming, could now start in October after nearly four years of waiting. So far, $650,000 has been raised for the center, which might cost as much as $1.2 million, according to plantation executive director Angela Calhoun.
Carnton Plantation officials were challenged at the meeting by Elizabeth Queener about the years of delays in replacing the double-wide trailer used as plantation offices.
"All of us would be the first to say that has been a circuitous journey," Calhoun said. "It has been very challenging. We are doing our best."
Meantime, Clayton said state environmental officials are surveying the federally protected wetlands near the park created by beaver dams. Clayton said the state officials may take on the mitigation project, which could save the city money.
Eric
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