With end to Nashboro Village plan, residents worry they won't get a park
METRO HAD WANTED TO BUY GOLF COURSE, CONVERT IT TO PUBLIC SPACE
Priest Lake residents drive miles to take a lap around a Metro greenway or break a sweat at a community center fitness class.
They live in one of Davidson County’s fastest-growing areas, one where city parks and recreation centers haven’t kept up. Metro Nashville was eyeing the private, 144-acre Nashboro Village golf course to convert to public space but abandoned that plan after residents along the golf course mounted strong opposition.
Now, people who don’t live on the golf course are worried it will take years to get the kind of amenities some drive as far as Coleman Park Community Center on Thompson Lane to get. Metro Park officials say they have plans for recreational projects in other southeast neighborhoods, but not in the immediate Priest Lake area.
“It makes me wonder if local government has crossed us off the list for now, since we said we didn’t want (a park) there,” said Cassandra Gray, a 14-year Priest Lake resident. “I’m hoping they strongly consider another location. I hope the next step in the conversation with the community is what are the other options.”
Metro’s parks board was scheduled to vote on the plan today but removed it from the agenda after Councilwoman Karen Johnson, who represents the area, asked the city to withdraw its proposal. An investor came forward who wants to keep the space as a golf course.
Projects planned
At a packed meeting with Johnson on Thursday, residents said they purchased homes that bordered the golf course because of the value it would bring their investment. They expressed concern about the additional traffic and crime a city park might bring to the area.
Park officials acknowledged there aren’t enough recreation centers in southeast Davidson County but pointed out work is beginning on other projects.
In November, the Metro Council voted to buy the former JC Penney building in Hickory Hollow Mall and the lot it sits on for a new library, community center and small park. The 30,000-square-foot community center will include a gymnasium, fitness center and multipurpose room. The purchase is on track to be finalized this month.
The Mill Creek Greenway will expand near Lenox Village off Nolensville Road with the potential for a park in the future. A neighborhood park is also planned for about 22 acres on Old Hickory Boulevard, west of Murfreesboro Pike.
“We are still striving to get our services distributed to all parts of the county, and particularly the ones that need it,” said Tommy Lynch, Metro Parks and Recreation director. “We still see there is a need in that very specific area. ... We are still going to pursue acreage, greenways, parks and community centers for that part of the city.”
The golf club purchase would have fallen under Metro’s open space plan that calls for preserving 22,000 acres over the next 25 years. The city recently purchased Cornelia Fort Airpark in East Nashville and Hermitage’s Ravenwood Country Club under that plan.
Former Mt. Juliet Mayor David Waynick sent a letter of intent to purchase the Nashboro Village golf course. He and golf course owner Textron Golf Financial Division are communicating, said Gilbert Smith, the real estate broker.
Contact Nancy DeVille at 615-259-8304 orndeville@tennessean.com or follow on Twitter @devillenews.
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City scraps plan to buy Nashboro Village golf course
The City Paper
Amid an escalating community backlash, Metro officials are scrapping a plan to purchase the Nashboro Village Golf Club, retreating from prior intentions to convert its acreage into a public park.
In a brief letter Friday, Councilwoman Karen Johnson, who represents the southeast Davidson County district that includes the golf course and surrounding neighborhood, said she asked the Metro Parks and Recreation Department to withdraw legislation authorizing the purchase of the 144-acre, 18-hole golf course.
Johnson’s appeal, made in a Friday letter to Southeast Ventures LLC, which owns the golf course, came one day after neighbors at an overflow community meeting roundly criticized Metro’s open space plans for the area.
Metro Parks Director Tommy Lynch told The City Paper his department plans to withdraw the acquisition proposal and honor Johnson’s request.
“It’s based on the public meeting we had last night,” Lynch said of the decision. “It appears that preserving it is a golf course was the primary goal that everybody wanted.”
A proposal to purchase the golf course for $595,000 is slated to go before the parks board Tuesday, Jan. 10. The plan had been to convert the private golf course, which closed in November, into open park space.
Lynch will recommend the parks board withdraw the proposal.
Many Nashboro Village neighbors have said they purchased their homes in part because of the nearby club, which now sits vacant.
Some have alleged a public park would attract more crime to the area. Johnson, in the letter, told Southeast Venture she has learned of an alternative buyer, attorney David Waynick, who envisions restoring the golf course if he’s able to purchase it.
“Clearly, following my community meeting last night, this is the strong preference of the neighbors,” Johnson wrote.
Metro officials have said the park’s purchase falls under the city’s open space plan, which paved the way to two other recent acquisitions: East Nashville’s Cornelia Fort Airpark and Ravenwood Country Club in Hermitage.
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