NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's been a long time since neighbors in West Meade had a safe park to call their own.
Brookmeade Park is conveniently located on Charlotte Pike near the Walmart Supercenter, but it became a homeless encampment a little more than a decade ago.
At one point several dozen people lived in tents in the park.
After community tension came to a head the city relocated the unhoused people. By January 2023, the final 45 people were gone.
Meanwhile, $1.2 million in federal pandemic relief funding was set aside to be used to restore the park.
At a Park Board meeting on Tuesday, the director of Metro Parks said $475,000 has been used up to this point.
At the park, you can see overgrown and dead vegetation has been cut back. The city also paid for an environmental study at the former homeless encampment. The results were better than some expected, however, the assessment wasn't exactly comprehensive.
This week, it was finally revealed what people in the community can expect in early 2025 when the park is slated to reopen.
"Going forward, the department plans to return the park to its original park and function, which was a greenway and open space," said Monique Odom, Metro Parks Director.
Some neighbors told NewsChannel 5 this was a surprise. They believed things like picnic shelters were on the table.
According to the director, that's just not possible.
"The configuration and topography of the park does not lend itself to some of the amenities seen at some of the other parks in the system," Odom said.
A park board member explained 70% of the park is in a floodzone.
"It does preclude you from doing certain things," said Crews Johnson. "You can probably play disc golf but you can't put a pavilion. I think the only place for a restroom would be up near the parking."
More than 600 people responded to a survey about the park amenities and activities they want. The top five answers were paved paths, restrooms, disc golf, kayak and paddleboard access — as well as picnic shelters.
The results of the survey are posted on the department's website.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
