Horse trails in Enterprise South Nature Park will get city funding despite strong opposition from several Chattanooga City Council members, after the city attorney said trying to renege might leave them facing a lawsuit.
The 10 miles of horse trails have been in the plan for the 2,800-acre park since its inception, but money had never been available to build them. But the state Local Parks and Recreation Fund offered a grant of $460,000, including $115,000 matching grants from the city and county. The County Commission voted Nov. 18 to approve its share of the funds and the project seemed headed for construction.
But at a City Council planning meeting Nov. 24, a majority of council members said they didn't want to put up the city's share of the match, questioning whether city residents would use the trails.
City Attorney Wade Hinton warned the money was already in the city's capital budget and failing to go through with the funding might result in legal action. Several council members responded by citing what they believed were examples of county commissioners reneging on pledges to support city projects.
At the end of the meeting, Hinton was asked to find out and report back whether the deleting the funds from the budget would be legal.
Nearly a dozen supporters of the project showed up at last week's council meeting to urge support of the plan, noting that there are no close-by trails. Several said horses and riders would benefit the local economy by buying food and gas from area businesses.
In the end, the issue was resolved quietly. Hinton told the council Tuesday that "our opinion is that city would have certain legal risks if it failed to follow through with this project."
There were no questions or discussion and the issue was dropped.
"I'm very happy that it's going to happen," said Adam Presley, president of the Saddle Pals Riding Club and one of the people who asked the council to support the trails. "I'm going to be using it and I know many, many people who will. I don't think the city really understands how many people will be coming from out of the area to see this."
Enterprise South is on land that was previously part of the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant, which manufactured TNT for military weaponry from World War II through the Vietnam War.
It currently features biking and hiking trails, a picnic area and a small lake.
Contact reporter Steve Johnson at sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, 423-757-6673, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP and on Facebook at stevejohnsonTFP.