Director Walsh and Mr. Craig,
Ross/Fowler provided the observation yesterday during the June 2015 Greenways Commission meeting that many of the "best routes" are not available in urban areas.
The corridor presented by an abandoned Southern Railroad spur in the heart of Knoxville's urban landscape is a highly desirable route that I have, as yet, seen no evidence suggesting it is unavailable for consideration as a greenway path.
Therefore, I feel strongly that it needs to be considered in the feasibility study for the city's consideration.
Eleven architects with the East Tennessee Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, five members of the Office of Policy Development, Community Development Department, and Knoxville's Community Development Corporation explicitly recommend following the historic Southern Railway Spur in the 2009 Magnolia Avenue Corridor Plan, which is referenced again in the 2011 Magnolia Avenue Redevelopment Plan.
I'm attaching a word document with all relevant mentions of the suggested route, see "2015-06-10-Magnolia-Plan-Greenway.docx," attached.
The route suggested in those reports is indicated on historic maps available online: http://arcg.is/1KpYBdQ
I'm also including a screen capture with the route highlighted for contrast, see image below.
The spur began at the Standard Knitting Mill near Caswell Park at the top of the image, then followed the creek Southward to terminate at an empty lot across from modern-day Crown and Goose restaurant.
While the First Creek Spur (Track No. 130-9) of the Southern Railroad at the old T. L. Lay Packing Company Plant (now Knox Rail Salvage) was abandoned by quit claim deed in 1947 (Deed Book 1313, page 957), the spur itself was still indicated on historic maps from 1966, and none of the data models for parcels in KGIS suggest new private ownership. One parcel in fact still belongs to Norfolk Southern Corporation, the company resulting from the merger of Southern Railway and Norfolk-Western.
While recent property records don't seem to indicate new ownership, some adjacent property owners, such as the industry between East Jackson Avenue and Willow Avenue have modified the former right of way by pouring concrete and adding a fence in an area clearly marked (red lines added by me) in the 1993 property rendering and 2014 Deed Book document for this property.
I'm not knowledgeable about Tennessee law, however it concerns me that the act of maintaining the abandoned railroad right-of-way by adding "improvements" might somehow be legally interpreted as permitting the adjacent property owner to stake a "claim" to otherwise abandoned property.
In the second image below, I have provided a screen capture of a spatial data model from the Metropolitan Planning Commission depicting existing land-use.
The black hashed line with arrows indicates the route desired by myself, by community members, and I will venture to say, the majority of the Greenways Commission appointees.
As you can see in more detail in the online map, the majority of the route follows property owned by no-one; it is the abandoned rail line's path.
Where property ownership is indicated by colored parcels (notably "blue" and "green" in the upper portion of the image), these are public / quasi-public landowners, such as City of Knoxville, Knoxville Housing Authority, Knoxville Utilities Board, and Knoxville Area Transit.
This suggest to me that the majority, if not the entirety, of the route is available to pursue as a greenway corridor.
You can access this "Existing Land Use" dataset online; it shows Public / Quasi-Public Land parcels associated with the former Southern Railroad Spur owned by the City of Knoxville and KAT and KUB, and a "TCU" parcel owned by KUB, also quasi-govermental organization.
In other discussions of this specific route, I've created a visualization of the route desired by area residents:
If specific direction is coming out of Parks and Rec routing First Creek Greenway along Winona or Jessamine, this direction contradicts what area residents desire and what other studies supported by experts and city departments have recommended.
I am optimistic Parks and Rec will provide new direction to Ross/Fowler to fully evaluate the feasibility of the potential corridor following the First Creek Spur of the Southern Railway, as requested by the Greenways Commission at the June 2015 meeting.
It is my belief that study of this path will reveal historical, aesthetic, and recreational values superior to any presented by streetscape enhancements to Willow Avenue.
Thanks,
Tanner
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