Chattanooga’s new Department of Parks and Outdoors is leveraging cost savings from lean operations and staff vacancies to deliver improvements to outdoor spaces in each of the city’s nine council districts.
The department’s design team began working in early April to identify $500,000 in projects that could be executed by the end of the year. After identifying more than 50 ideas, it whittled those down to the final list.
Planners prioritized projects based on need, geographic distribution and with an emphasis on the economically disadvantaged areas in the city.
No new public dollars were used in the course of the project and all improvements have already been purchased, though some are still in the delivery process and are not yet fully installed.
The improvements include 60 new dog waste stations, 29 benches and 60 new barbecue grills – 40 of which have been installed – for parks and outdoor locations throughout the city.
• New docks at Williams Island
• Lookout Valley Park has a new playground and swing set
• Frances B. Wyatt Park has a new playground and swing set
• Hixson Park has a new playground
• Greenway Farm Park has new picnic tables and a family-sized barbecue grill
• Jack Benson Heritage Park has new grills, picnic tables and benches
• Sterchi Farm Park has new picnic tables
• Shepherd Park has new shade structures and playground seating
• Harris Johnson Park has new fitness equipment, a new playground and a new border for the playground surface
• Pringle Park has a new playground
• Caruthers Park has a new pavilion
• Church Street Park has a new swing and pavilion
• Ted Bryant Park has a new playground and swing set
• Watkins Park has a new playground
Source: City of Chattanooga