The Haynes-Trinity Neighborhood Coalition has been working with several Council members who have been supportive of our efforts to stop the sale of the 11 acres at 0 Brick Church Pike. They have asked us to propose a solution that would benefit both MNPS and us. We have identified some school property in Council District 2 that is not being utilized to its full potential, and would likely bring far more money than selling the 11 acres at 0 Brick Church Pike.
The property is located next to I.T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts and consists of ~ 6 acres that borders Clarksville Pike. The school sits on almost 20 acres. We estimate 6.5 acres or 1/3 of their property bordering Clarksville Pike is never used and would be considered prime real estate fronting a major corridor. The school partners with Haynes Middle for outside sports and does not use their own property for athletics. If MNPS wanted to sell more of the property in the back of the school, then that would probably add an additional ~ 3 acres or so. Another alternative would be for MNPS to partner with a developer and build much needed affordable housing on the site for teachers. We are asking the School Board and Metro Council to either amend the current BL2019-1476 and substitute the IT Creswell school property and also designate the 11-acre 0 Brick Church property to the Parks Dept. Another alternative would be to ask the Council to defer the bill indefinitely and have them draft a new bill.
Metro Council has deferred this bill three times on 2/5/19, 2/19/19 and 3/5/19. It will be heard again on 3/19/19. Our Councilman, DeCosta Hastings has been supporting us so far in opposition to this bill, but we need ALL council members to vote against it.
PLEASE TAKE TWO ACTION STEPS NOW
1) Please contact your council member and ask them to amend BL2019-1476 by substituting the ~ 6.5 acres of IT Creswell property to be sold and designate the 0 Brick Church Pike property to Metro Parks. For a list of Council members and their contact information: click here. (Green means they have been supportive of us in the past and they should be thanked for it. Red means they have publicly spoken against us and should be asked to reconsider. If there is no highlight, we do not know their position yet). To search for your council person by address: click here
2) Email all the School Board members with the same message. Email addresses for Metro School Board of Education board members are:
jill.speering@mnps.org, anna.shepherd@mnps.org, cbuggs@mnps.org, franbush5@gmail.com, will@pinkstonforschools.com, virginia.pupo-walker@mnps.org, gentryfordistrict1@outlook.com, amy.frogge@mnps.org, elrodforschools@gmail.com