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LOOK PAST THE BASEBALL ON THE OLD EASTMAN BALLFIELDS.. LOOK PAST THE CORNER OF THE TOY REID EASTMAN EMPLOYEE CENTER.. SEE THE GROVE OF TREES IN THE DISTANCE? THAT'S WHERE THE NEW BALLFIELDS ARE GOING, A FAMILIAR SITE TO RIVERVIEW
The Eastman Ballfields are moving to the General Shale Site.. better known for years to Riverview residents as "The Brickyard."
But General Shale's "brickyard" yard property is 93 acres in size.. from Cement Hill all the way over to Industry Drive.
So where exactly will the new ballfields be located within the 93 acres?
Hold on to your memories, Riverview residents... the new ballfields will be located on the site formerly known in the neighborhood as "CLAY HILL."
"The plan approved by the committee of city staff, Eastman employees and Kingsport Convention and Visitors Bureau administrators, calls for 5 fields to be built in the area between Dunbar Street and Industry Drive," says Chris McCartt, assistant to the city manager. "From a list of 17 proposed sites, the General Shale site offers the best opportunity to expand down the road if we wanted to."
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE FUTURE
The initial draft for the proposed layout at Clay Hill is on the left. Industry Drive is along the bottom, the entrance to General Shale is on the left, and in the upper right corner is Dunbar Street, with the individual property lots that border Clay Hill. As you can see on the right, behind Dunbar Street, one large baseball field and its adjoining parking lot will take up most of the area that used to be Clay Hill. At the bottom is Industry Drive, the railroad and the river.
On the left is a huge open area with a retention pond. 4 separate ballfields will take up that entire area, in a circular pattern, between General Shale's Entrance Road, Industry Drive, and the larger ballfield.
The picture at the right is from Google Maps with some added captions, and is exactly the same picture of what is left of Clay Hill as the layout above it. The open field in the lower right corner is the open field that General Shale eventually shaved the mounds and hills of Clay Hill into over the years, Dunbar Street and the homes that border Clay Hill, plus the Carver Street and Douglass Street corner of Riverview are visible above the open field (Clay Hill) in the upper right corner. The large field will take up the open field of Clay Hill, with the parking lot between the field and the homes on Dunbar.
At the lower left and up, is the open field with the retention pond that will comprise the four smaller ballfields.
The brickyard building at the upper right corner will eventually be torn down for future development, not related to the ballfields.
CLAY HILL TODAY.. RIVERVIEW IS JUST PAST THE TREES ON THE LEFT.. JOHNSON-HILLIARD IS BEHIND THE TREES AND HILL TO THE RIGHT
"Our goal is to work with this schematic design, move into a more detailed design in the weeks and months ahead, and get the entire site bid out in the upcoming spring of 2014," McCartt says, "and keep in mind... this is only a draft, just an idea of what we're looking at."
DUNBAR STREET AT LOUIS STREET... CLAY HILL IS THROUGH THE TREES IN THE BACKGROUND
AFTER V.O. DOBBINS/HOPE VI HOUSING, ANOTHER BIG CHANGE COMING TO RIVERVIEW
"This ballfield concept is pretty comprehensive," says Linda Kincaid, a Dunbar Street resident. "To most neighborhoods, this would be a pretty comprehensive change. You have to make acknowledgements to the neighborhood, and I think everybody over here knew the city would pick the brickyard property for the ballfields.
"But I don't think anybody knew exactly WHERE on the brickyard property they would go," she says. "We are finding out from you Calvin, that they're now going to be in our backyard. The city needs to come to the V.O. Dobbins Center, or go door-to-door and tell us what's going on. We have elderly neighbors who cannot get out. I think the idea could been shared through a letter, a town hall meeting, or some kind of gathering."
"It would have been appreciated."
CURVE OF DUNBAR STREET... CLAY HILL WOODS BEHIND HOMES ON RIGHT
Other Dunbar Street residents are more blunt.
"I don't really like the idea of putting up there right behind my house," says Veronica Camp. "My house is so close to that and I don't think the city can foresee every problem that might come up. If they come up, they'll have to deal with each one, and I think the homeowners will be dealing more with the problems than the city will."
"I think ballfields up there on Clay Hill might disturb the people that's living right down below them with the traffic, but the rest of the neighborhood with the lights," Louis Street resident Willie Hodges says. "If they can address those concerns, I think it would be important to remember Clay Hill with a plaque or something.. at least let the rest of Kingsport and the ballfield visitors know that area was a playground for us, and that we still remember it."
CLAY HILL, AS SEEN FROM CARVER STREET
"My hope is that they will have a minimal impact," says McCartt. "At this point, it may be too early to know what that impact will be. Obviously, the grading and leveling that will take place will have an immediate impact, but even that should be minimal. Of course, there will be noise with bulldozers, graders, scrapers, and trucks hauling away rock and dirt to and from the site will create some noise. That's going to be an immediately effect, for sure."
And what of the lighting of the fields? Now that the exact location has been determined, Riverview residents are already on edge about the ballfields "lighting up their world."
A LIT J. FRED JOHNSON STADIUM DURING A NIGHT D-B FOOTBALL GAME ON LEFT
"We're evaluating different kinds of lighting options," McCartt says. "A good example of what we're looking at, are the new lights that were recently put in at J. Fred Johnson Stadium or the Lynn View Community Center ballfield. Those are examples of a new lighting concept that has minimal light pollution, that really directs most of the light onto the playing field. Those kinds of lighting systems are good when you're considering lighting a playing surface within a residential area. It's really become the norm in many cities whenever you see a new facility being built."
Are there other access possibilities other than Industry Drive? Right now, fences will most likely prevent foot traffic from Dunbar Street and Riverview to the ballfield site.
"We are considering running a sidewalk down Industry Drive from the new sidewalk on Wilcox between Eastman and the Aquatic Center at Meadowview," says McCartt. "There would be connectivity there."
MLK DEADEND, TO FINALLY LEAD SOMEWHERE?
6 years ago, when Riverview's Lincoln Street was renamed Martin Luther King Drive to honor the beloved civil rights leader, the city of Kingsport, through Mayor Dennis Phillips, promised a consideration of extending the deadend of the street at Dunbar, through the General Shale property over the railroad tracks to downtown. So far, that has not happened, but the new ballfields on the Shale property could change that.
"There continues to be discussion with the city's acquisition of the Shale property and the relocation of the ballfields, to extend M.L.K, if not downtown, at least to Industry Drive, via the General Shale extrance road," says McCartt. "I know you Calvin have had those discussions with folks here at City Hall over the past several years. Obviously if the ballfields came to pass, there would be connectivity to MLK, but when and exactly the route isn't on the board yet."
CLAY HILL GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION 2007
Of course, Clay Hill has a hazardous waste problem. It always has. Living in Riverview, residents always knew it.. waste cannisters dumped into piles... Secret white stuff oozing out of the ground during heavy rain... The underground fire that broke out behind the Dobbins and H. M. Sneed houses back in 2000... The fire that the Kingsport Fire Department could not put out because it was burning under the surface of the ground, so they decided to let it burn itself out... Past research shows that Riverview itself has been sitting on the site of an ancient chemical and solid waste dumpsite from the early 20th century, and General Shale's dumpsite is just a continuation of that one.
"We have been having discussions with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to see if there are any known issues on the (ballfield) site, or areas nearby that we need to be aware of," McCart says. "Obviously when you're looking at a tract of land over a hundred acres, you realize there have been different uses throughout the entire life of the property. We have also worked with General Shale based on potential Phase One and Phase Two environmental studies that have been done. As we go into the final phase before the decision is made to purchase the property, we are evaluating those things.
With a proposed construction start date by the spring time, McCartt tells your Douglass website editor, those environmental studies have already begun.
"You're not the first one that has mentioned the environmental phase," he says. "Others working on this project have been evaluating that.. to what extent I'm not directly involved in that. Keep in mind, too, that General Shale has already done some of the legwork on the environmental end, as they prepared to sell all or part of the property."
NEW HOPE VI HOMES IN RIVERVIEW, SPRING 2011
It's no secret that Kingsport took a huge gamble when it used HOPE VI money to replace the historic Riverview Apartments with new single-family housing, and completely renovate the V.O. Dobbins Community Center, formerly the Douglass School. The result has been a huge decrease in crime -- Riverview no longer has the highest crime rate in the city -- and investments in the overall appearance of the neighborhood that have resulted in higher, stronger property values. The Riverview Subdivision is also home to the headquarters of the Eastman Chemical Company, ranked 346 (2012) in the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations.
Building brand new recreational ballfields next door to the community, is seen by Kingsport from an optimistic perspective.
"The ballfields will bring in positive events for the community," says McCartt. "There's no question that work done on the Douglass High School building, upgrades to the center, upgrades done on the Splash Pad, that positive things came out of that. When you look at a future connecction to MLK, the baseball fields could really be something that could spur commercial development along MLK Drive that the Housing Authority has identified for some time. Historically, there has been commercial development along Lincoln Street in the past, and the development with the ballfields and ultimate redevelopment of the entire General Shale site, will have positive implications for, not only the Riverview Community, but for the entire city of Kingsport."
McCartt goes on.. "When you begin to look at the development of a business park and what our thought process is, you can really begin to see this (baseball fields) thing having a very diversified impact on our local economy, especially in Riverview and on MLK and the potential for commercial development."
As it stands right now, bids on site construction are scheduled for this coming Spring, 2014... actuat construction would begin in late Spring, 2014, and the new ballfields will see the first pitch by the Spring of 2015.
THE ROAD TO THE PROPOSED BALLFIELDS ON RIVERVIEW'S CLAY HILL
News of the baseball fields is slowly sinking in for Riverview residents and Douglass alumni, as they adjust to once again the rumblings of scrapers and dump trucks in the community.
"I think most people would be pleased to know that something as major as ballfields, once across the road from us, are now going to be in our backyard," says Linda Kincaid. "I also think personally that putting the fields where they are planning them, could be a win-win situation. But as a community, we just want to be included in any decisions that directly affect us."
COMING UP NEXT: "RIVERVIEW'S UNOFFICIAL PLAYGROUND: A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE LOOKING AT THE ALLURE... THE MYSTIQUE... THE 'FUN' OF CLAY HILL
