BY: Micca Terrell
Ashland City Council members voted during their June 8 meeting to approve a motion to not sell Caldwell Nature Park and to work with a local widow on her proposal to rename the park in honor of her late husband in exchange for a $250,000 donation to the town.
City Council members will be meeting with Jane Crisp in the coming weeks on the plan.
Crisp suggested she would make a one-time gift of $200,000 to the Town of Ashland City for use in any of the Ashland City Parks. Also, she would make a one-time gift of $50,000 to the Town of Ashland City for the sole purpose of construction of restrooms and a picnic pavilion near the entrance of the park.
In return, Crisp requested the park’s name to be changed to the Doug O’Rear Nature Park, as well as the addition of a sign on Highway 12 marking the turn off to the park and changing the signage at the park to reflect the new name.
To prevent the city from selling the park land in the future, she has suggested that a conservation easement be put in place.
After the vote, Crisp said she was “delighted and I know my Doug would be, also. Thank you, Ashland City Council and all of you who have shown up to support my proposal. I am looking forward to working out the details with the city. I couldn’t be happier.”
In other business, the council voted on second reading to approve the rezoning of 1807 Highway 12 South from R-1 (Low Density Residential District) to R-4 (High Density Residential) to allow for the construction of 45 townhomes. Mike Stuart of Ashland City, who is representing the developer, said the project would take approximately three years to complete, and that the majority of the homes would not be rental properties.
