Claxton Park decision delayed amid safety, community concerns
Claxton Community Park stays open for now, but some county commissioners have argued that its structures are unsafe. The Anderson County Conservation Board plans to close it on Nov. 1. (photo:Ben Pounds )
Some, citing an existing agreement with Tennessee Valley Authority, to demolish the park, have wanted to close it, while others have wanted to make sure Claxton still has a park even if it’s a new one at a different location before proceeding to close the old one.
The issue will next go back to the Anderson County Operations Committee on May 12.
The park, on Edgemoor Road, includes picnic areas and a playground called the Kid’s Palace.
The Conservation Board voted on April 7 to close the playground on Nov. 1 and remove any structures before Dec. 1, an item approved as part of the County Commission’s consent agenda April 21.
Last August, the coommission voted to end the Conservation Board’s responsibility for the park.
People have raised concerns about ash in the playground’s soil that comes from the nearby Bull Run Fossil Plant, confirmed by Duke University, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Department of Health.
Also, county Commissioner Joshua Anderson previously pointed out that the park’s wooden equipment wasn’t up to modern codes, a point he and Commissioner Denise Palmer made again at the April 21 meeting.
TVA, which has closed the Bull Run Fossil Plant, has agreed to pay for demolishing the structure.
Despite these factors, Commissioner Tracy Wandell, who represents Claxton, made the motion to keep the park open until the county finds another location for the park. Commissioner Ebony Capshaw seconded.
Yje commission has discussed the idea of making a new park and even having TVA pay for the new playground.
However, commission Chairman Tyler Mayes, who also represents Claxton, told The Courier News there had not been much interest yet among Claxton landowners in selling any of their land for the park.
“I’d like for us to kind of put that on hold until we get more direction on where the next park will be,” Wandell said at an earlier Operations Committee meeting.
At the April 21 meeting, Wandell stressed the park’s importance to the unincorporated Claxton community.
“When you drive by there, the only thing we have in Claxton is that park,” he said. “People use it every day.
“Our community has built those pavilions with their own money. The park was built with donations. The people in the community built the park. To shut that down without having a plan, I don’t think is good business.”
Wandell said the process of closing the park had come due to an Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring the park close and that all coal ash material be fenced in.
However, he said that directive was from the Biden administration and the current Trump administration would likely have different policies.
Wandell also said the coal ash at the park is under layers of clay and among the safest kind.
He said TDEC has said the playground is safe to use in spite of the ash.
“There’s fugitive dust just like there’s fugitive dust anywhere,” he said regarding coal ash that might blow in.
Wandell said if the county did not want the park, it could give it back to the Optimist Club.
However, others, including county Mayor Terry Frank, argued that it was unwise to go back on an agreement the county had already made for TVA to pay for demolishing the playground.
