The proposed road through the historic Lincoln Park could get one step closer to reality after a proposed summer meeting. Blythe Bailey, city transportation director, on Tuesday told the Chattanooga City Council about the next step for the plans surrounding this contentious project.
“Parts of the original Lincoln Park were considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places,” said Mr. Bailey. “I have said to my team as well as to our consultants and TDOT that I’m excited about the decision they made.”
“Now at this particular moment, we are attempting to identify a date for what is called a resolution of adverse effects meeting. That means we are going to work with a consulting party to determine the impacts of this project on the historic resources of the park.”
Councilman Anthony Byrd emphasized the importance of the park to the community, and he wanted to know what the plan was if the meeting results in the proposed road going through.
“I’m about to start a campaign, because one of the things I agreed to is to save the park or the history of Lincoln Park,” said Councilman Byrd. “That’s why we changed the name of the street to Lincoln Park Lane. If after the meeting in July, the coalition says we are going to do the park and the road, what does it look like moving forward?”
He and fellow Councilman Russell Gilbert had questions surrounding both the ownership of the park, and the nature of the funding for this project.
“If we don’t own the land, and they say “Let’s move ahead with the road and the park” and we start to do the design, and we don’t have it 100 percent or Erlanger says we’re going to give you the land, it’s likely they could end up being a parking lot,” said Councilman Byrd. “I just don’t want to kick this can too far down the road. Can we see this in the next eight months before we all start to leave office, if we leave?”
“You said because of the historical aspect, they cannot move forward until this is resolved,” said Councilman Gilbert. “So here’s my question: Why did we put $1.8 million into this road if the historical aspects are not settled yet?”
Donna Williams, who heads city economic and community development, then told the Council that only $200,000 had been set aside for the start of the project. She said that the other $1.8 million of the assumed $2 million was never actually approved.
“It doesn’t’ make sense that we have Central Avenue ready to go, but we don’t have Lincoln Park ready to go,” said Councilman Gilbert. “We aren’t even in the phase of having the property ready to go. Something doesn’t add up.”
Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod spoke about the historical importance Lincoln Park has for Chattanooga’s Black community.
“I think that Councilman Byrd has been working hard with his constituents. But all of us should be speaking up on this because it’s Chattanooga history. This park is the last remaining thing showcasing some form of Black history in Chattanooga. There’s not even a plaque or anything that says we came here through the slave trade at the train station.”
In the end, Councilman Erskine Oglesby said the economic development committee would discuss this matter further in July, presumably after the meeting (whose date has not been set).