The City of Knoxville expressed desired changes for the Veterans District concept plan at Tuesday’s Marion County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The initial concept plan was finalized in 2021 by the company Confluence Inc. In the initial plans, the city wanted to give roughly ten acres of land to the Knoxville Community School District for a potential new school or practice fields. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Knoxville Mayor Brian Hatch and KCSD Superintendent Cassi Pearson spoke about their desire to move the land that will be designated to the school district to the north side of the Veterans District. Knoxville Mayor Brian Hatch spoke at the meeting and says a main reason for this is the city no longer has plans for a campground in that location.

“We originally thought the campground area might be something that would happen, and we now know years later that it is probably not something we are going to do. The school approached us and said they might want to go up on that north side. When looking at it and talking to some of our developers they thought it is probably a good idea for us. It’s a better place for them. It creates a better buffer between that railroad track and some of the residential to the south. We’re in the middle of working with Confluence now and the city has hired Confluence to redo the concept plan.”

The former Knoxville middle school land that was recently gifted to the city was roughly ten acres and the land that the school district will eventually acquire in the Veterans District is about the same.