Likely one of the greatest parting gifts from the City that now retired Shelbyville Parks and Recreation Director Mike Alsup will have received will be the knowledge that Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has approved Shelbyville to receive $2.5 million for Phase I expansion at H.V. Griffin Park.
The City will need to match that grant by a few million to advance with this long-awaited recreational expansion.
The TDEC Office of Outdoor Recreation announced this week it will grant a total of $21,017,000 in funds for recreational needs across the state-all which will be matched by local government investments for recreation projects and the purchase of land for parks, natural areas, greenways, and recreational facilities.
All grant projects must be on publicly owned land.
Other counties receiving the funds include the City of Tiptonville at $2 million and Williamson County at $2 million for Osburn Park.
Alsup has worked years on working up a Master Plan to earn such funding approval, along with Shelbyville City Council. Council approved earlier this year for Parks and Recreation to apply for this recreational need funding.
According to the report given by Alsup this spring, at his last parks board meeting, TDEC had approved the City to complete the application for local parks and recreation (LPRF) grant dollars for phase I of the H.V. Griffin Master Plan, which includes a soccer complex, new parking and road.
At the parks board meeting, he stated that the soccer field was the natural order and flow first in the Master Plan. While it will be an awesome area in the H.V. Park complex, the City is also banking on the fact that this one Phase could bring in an ample amount of tourism dollars each year through regular play and tournaments.
There’s more trailing behind in the total Master Plan.
Alsup stated how the Trails and Greenways Master Plan is also in progress with an anticipated completion date of January 2025.
The T-G will continue to cover this ground-breaking news.
