CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- On Thursday, Clarksville City Council will vote on whether to purchase the Clarksville Speedway property, with plans to widen Needmore Road and add a new recreational complex.
William Scogin has owned the 83-acre speedway property for nearly 24 years and currently operates the fairgrounds, along with a Christmas lights display once a year.
“I have over, I want to say, 300 events a year here,” Scogin said. "It's just a lot between fairs, circuses, and the Christmas lights.”
Scogin described his schedule as an eight-day work week, and would like to scale back his working hours.
Over the past five years, Clarksville has seen a nearly 16% population increase, and Scogin doesn’t wish to sell his property to a developer. Instead, he would like to see a recreation center for nearby residents to utilize. That’s in addition to the clear need to expand roads around the property.
“The houses around me and the road traffic, it's just unbearable sometimes, so we have to make sure we're making the right steps to do everything there,” Scogin said.
Ward 8 City Councilwoman Wanda Allen, who presides over the area, called the deal a win-win for North Clarksville residents.
"We have a lot of youth, and most of the recreation that they get to do is at one of the other recreation centers. We have a need for football fields on this side of town, baseball fields, soccer fields on this side of town,” Allen said.
Current plans under Mayor Joe Pitts' Transportation 2020+ plan calls for widening Needmore Road around the speedway, with the project’s price tag coming in right around $3.94 million. However, that’s more than half of what the city would pay to acquire Scogin’s 83-acre property and widen the road.
The current proposed Hazelwood Recreation Complex would offer an aquatic center, multi-use fields, playgrounds, a fitness center, and a new canoe access point.
“I'm a firm believer in if you try to keep people where they're at, that will help alleviate traffic also,” Allen said. “We are killing so many birds with one stone, so many.”
In 2019, the City of Clarksville created a capital project to purchase land for a new recreational center in North Clarksville. In a news release sent out by the mayor, he explained funds from that $8.5 million were already on hand to help fund this project.
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“This purchase gives us the opportunity to consolidate two capital projects, the Needmore Road widening and Hazelwood Recreation Complex,” David Smith, director of the Clarksville Street Department, said in a statement. “The acquisition essentially shifts the property needed for the road widening away from the adjacent residences, eliminating the impact to those owners. Also, the purchase should provide enough land for us to maintain the existing traffic pattern while the roadway is developed in this stretch, minimizing lane closures and other interruptions."
"The asking price is not as much as we're going to spend if we don't purchase it; if we don't purchase it, we're going to spend a whole lot more money," Allen told News 2.
Buying the property is contingent on leasing it to Scogin for the next two years, for $1 each year, so he can fulfill current contract obligations. Scogin told News 2 he would like the City of Clarksville to find another location to host the annual fair and Christmas lights display.