Information from WYSH Radio
It has already been a banner week for Lake City.
On Monday, the Anderson County Commission’s Operations Committee voted to recommend purchasing the old Bank of America building in Lake City for $100,000 using part of the proceeds of the pending sale of county-owned land to the Hollingsworth Company for $303,000. The remaining $203,000 would be used as seed money for the start-up Anderson County Economic Development Fund. Supporters of the bank building purchase foresee using it as the new home of Coal Miners’ Museum as well as for storage and use as a satellite office for some county government entities.
Now, PlanET, a regional partnership of East Tennessee communities in Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Union counties, has selected Lake City as one of its so-called Demonstration Project sites. The program will be funded through the Plan East Tennessee Grant and leverage in-kind services from the East Tennessee Community Design Center, or ETCDC, and the University of Tennessee School of Agriculture.
According to a letter sent by PlanET officials to Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel, whose District 4 encompasses Lake City, the project scope of design includes Main Street and the Coal Miners’ Museum. An ETCDC design team will lead the Main Street Project, which will consist of assessing the current downtown and determining the defined work area, cataloging businesses, residential areas, public spaces, and areas of special consideration such as historic properties. The team will focus on complementing those historic buildings, while also working on streetscape design and lighting.
Ultimately, this project will give city leaders a wealth of data and a possible blueprint for revitalizing downtown Lake City. A group from the UT School of Architecture will work with Lake City to develop a program for a coal history museum as well as potential designs for such a facility.
The letter states that the goal is for Lake City to “create a venue that can drive cultural tourism on the community and that links the city to the abundance of other recreational trails and historical sites in the area.” That work can then be used to help in fundraising efforts or in applying for grants for the museum.
Officials will work with Lake City leaders to schedule two community meetings that will allow citizens to state their preferences for downtown Lake City.
Information in this story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.
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