This is the gravel walkway entering the Chester Blevins Sports Complex in Kimball. City leaders have decided to pave the walkway to make it easier for people with disabilities to enter the complex.KIMBALL, Tenn. - Growing pains are a part of opening any new facility, and the Chester Blevins Sports Complex at Kimball Park is no exception.
Mayor David Jackson said the first month of baseball and softball games at the newly opened ballfields has gone well, but the entrance to the complex has been identified as a problem area.
The walkway is gravel from the main gate all the way to the centralized concession stand, and that has caused issues for people with special needs entering the facility.
Alderman Johnny Sisk, chairman of the city's park board, recommended the walkway be paved because "it needs to be done."
"It needs to be [paved] because it is hard for someone in a wheelchair or a walker to go up through there in the gravel," he said.
Jackson said the gravel walkway poses another danger, too.
"Kids do get to throwing rocks," he said. "That's just kids being kids, but they could accidentally hit somebody and hurt somebody."
The Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously on Thursday to hire Lofty Paving and Grading Inc. in Dunlap, Tenn., to pave the walkway at a cost of $5,200.
"Obviously, this needs to be done," Alderman Mark Payne said.
Jackson said paving the walkway would be "a big benefit" to the park.
With good weather expected this week, officials said they are hopeful the walkway can be paved before the Valley Classic baseball tournament begins there Thursday.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.