THE MEETING SCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 20, 2019 HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL A LATER DATE.

Families who enjoy playing at Fort Kid in the Fort Sanders neighborhood are invited to a 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, 2019 public meeting at the Knoxville Museum of Art.
 
Deputies to the Mayor David Brace and Bill Lyons will provide an update on the $600,000 project to reconstruct the 28-year-old play structure. Attendees will be invited to share their suggestions in small-group discussions for amenities at the enhanced Fort Kid.

The original retaining wall that supports the play area has decayed. The City will take down the wall and replace it with a grassy sloped area. That work is expected to get underway late this year, temporarily closing the play area in order to prepare the site for the reconstruction of a safe and ADA-accessible Fort Kid. Currently, Fort Kid does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

Businessman Thomas Boyd, owner of Rebel Kitchen, Old City Wine Bar, Barley’s and Merchants of Beer, has pledged $200,000 to the reconstruction, and an anonymous donor is contributing another $100,000.

The City of Knoxville has designated $300,000 in the 2019-20 budget for the wall demolition and site preparation.

Hedstrom Landscape Architecture will be designing the footprint of the reconstructed Fort Kid, drawing from input gathered at the Sept. 30 public meeting.

A follow-up public meeting will be scheduled in December to present a final plan for a reconstructed Fort Kid, which would reopen next spring.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or LEP (Limited English Proficient) and want to request interpretation services, please contact Title VI Coordinator Tatia M. Harris at [email protected] or 865.215.2831. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend, contact the City’s ADA Coordinator, Stephanie Brewer Cook, at 865.215.2034 or [email protected] at least 72 hours before the meeting.