City to give 39 acres for Shooting Sports Park

Gary Nelson, Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.
·2 min read

Mar. 18—The Crossville City Council approved an additional donation of 39 additional acres to the Crossville Shooting Sports Park during last week's city council meeting.

The donation is pending the legal agreement review by Crossville City Attorney Randy York and city of Crossville Engineer Tim Begley.

The donation comes after the request from Crossville Shooting Sports Park Board.

Board President Kenneth Carey Jr. sent a letter of request. Carey wrote, "... The property lies immediately north of Interstate 40 [and] is the property that is being requested to be donated to the adjoining property of Crossville Shooting Sports Park. The property will be incorporated into the current shooting park complex and used to enhance the facility to draw more people to the area and Shooting Sports Park through events and competitions. This will directly affect the city of Crossville with revenue from sales tax increases at local restaurants, fuel stations, motels and other businesses ..."

Councilman Mike Turner said he spoke with five property owners near the area, and four were against the donation, citing noise concerns.

Turner said he checked noise levels and spent 3.5 hours one day in all of the areas during shooting events, and no noise was evident other than the sound of traffic from I-40.

Turner said he spoke with hotel owners nearby and they had no complaints and said the shooting sports park helped their business.

One resident of the area, Ed Rose, said during public comment, "I think it's a nice, safe place."

He said there were shooting noise nuisance complaints but he didn't hear anything accept the traffic on I-40, as well.

Councilman Rob Harrison said there would most likely only be four events a year that would be big enough to use all of the park area and said the park could also be used for grants for 3D Archery in the park.

Crossville City Manager Greg Wood said he recommended if there is any area of the old landfill involved to cut that property out for monitoring purposes by the city and state.

York said the city should have easements to reserve for access to the old landfill site for monitoring.

Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford moved to make the donation pending the approval and review of York and Begley.

Councilman Art Gernt supported the motion, and it unanimously approved.

Councilman Scot Shanks did not attend the meeting.

The Crossville Shooting Sports Park opened in 2019. A $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife provided funding for the project, and the city of Crossville sold the group 147 acres off Albert Frye Rd. for construction of the facility for $1.

The grant came from excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and arrow components authorized in the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. Federal funds are appropriated to states, with Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency administering the funds.

Gary Nelson may be reached at gnelson@crossville-chronicle.com