Rocky Top approves $904K ballfield improvements
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Rocky Top is spending $904,000 for upgrades to George Templin Field, including new bleachers, press box, and concessions stand, and restroom improvements. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Work will begin this week to install a new roof on the Rocky Top fire and police building, after completion last week of a similar new roof installation on City Hall. Both roofs are being replaced for a total of $120,000 by Dixie Roofing Co. under a contract approved in October by the City Council. Buckets will no longer have to be placed in strategic spots to catch rainwater dripping from the ceilings in the two buildings. - G. Chambers Williams III
The Rocky Top City Council on Thursday night approved a $904,090 contract for improvements to the George Templin Field ballpark, which will include new bleachers, press box, and concessions stand, and some restroom upgrades.
First Place Finish, Inc., an Oak Ridge-based contractor, was the winning bidder for the project, for which the city has received a state recreation grant of up to $566,000.
The city must match the amount of grant funding dollar for dollar, and will do so using a U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest loan.
Besides the new bleachers, with about 400 seats, concessions stand and press box, the city also will use part of the grant to rebuild a walking trail around the park, and install a new chain-link fence around the athletic field.
City Manager Mike Ellis has said the seating area and other facilities, including restrooms, at the ballfield need upgrades that would make them compliant with standards mandated by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
“We haven’t done anything with the bleachers to make them ADA-complaint, and in fact, not much has been done at the ballfield to meet ADA standards,” then-city Councilman Zack Green said last year, after the grant was announced. Green was chairman of the city’s Recreation Committee, as well. He left the council in December 2024 after choosing not to run again in the November election.
The ADA requires most public facilities, as well as private facilities open to the public, to be made accessible to people with disabilities.
“The bleachers must be torn down and replaced,” Green said earlier. “This field gets a lot of use. We have Little League football there, and the [Lake City] Middle School uses it for football. There are also some slow-pitch softball leagues that use the field.”
Green was able to get the City Council’s approval at its Feb. 15, 2024, meeting to move forward with the grant application from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to help pay for the improvements.
The $566,000 award came from TDEC’s Local Parks and Recreation Fund. Rocky Top was among four area cities to receive grants from the fund, for a total of $1.27 million.
Templin said at the time that the city had two years to make use of the grant before it expires.
“It would be awesome to update the restrooms, too,” the mayor said. “The field itself is in awesome shape, and we already have the new LED lights.”
The ballfield already has a new scoreboard, installed last year, which cost about $12,000, and the City Council approved a $5,000 city contribution to that expense. The rest came from other sources, including the Anderson County Board of Education and Anderson County Commission.
In other business Thursday, the council:
n Passed on second and final reading Ordinance 618, which amends the city’s zoning map to change the zoning for property at 901 S. Main St., described as the old hospital site, from M-1 Industrial to C-2 Tourist Commercial for construction of several housing units.
Mayor Templin said the property owner requested the rezoning.
n Agreed to seek a USDA loan of up to $3 million for new equipment for the city’s sewage collection and treatment system.
That would include a vacuum truck to help clear sewer lines, at a cost expected to be about $350,000; $600,000 for a sludge press for the sewage-treatment plant; and the rest for a new lift station for the main pump station.
n Heard from City Manager Mike Ellis that work has been completed on installing a new roof on City Hall, and that the separate fire/police building will now be getting its own new roof.
The council approved contracts for both projects during its October meeting.
Re-roofing of both buildings is costing $120,000. The work is being done by Dixie Roofing. Because of numerous leaks, the city had been setting out buckets in both buildings to catch water every time it rained.
No one on the council or the city staff could say when the roofs were last replaced on the two buildings – since it had not been done during any of their tenure.