The Friendsville Board of Mayor and Commissioners awarded a $340,246 contract to Oak Ridge-based Nitzschke Communications, Inc. at its March 5 meeting to complete a Tennessee Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant-funded project.
Although the Tennessee Office of Outdoor Recreation Grants awarded the funds in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the project and increased material and labor costs requiring the scope of the project be updated.
The original project proposal included a splash pad, public restrooms, two paved parking lots and a 40-by-60-foot pavilion on West Hill Avenue; however, when Miami-based engineering firm Adurra Group, Inc. began planning the project it became clear the scope would have to be revised to remove the restrooms, one of the two parking lots, a sidewalk down Hill Avenue and change the pavilion to be 30-by-70-foot, City Administrator Kim Rogers explained.
Following a multi-year review and approval process, bids were opened in February. Construction is expected to begin immediately and be completed by fall 2026, Rogers said.
This project is also aligned with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Appropriation Grant-funded project that began construction in 2025 to install sidewalks throughout downtown and connect to existing walkways. Once completed, that project creates approximately one mile of continuous pedestrian walkways.
This is the latest of multiple grant-funded projects the city has in the works, Mayor Steve Cardwell said.
