Sullivan Gardens Community Center supporters talk up project

KINGSPORT — More than a dozen people turned out Thursday evening to give sometimes impassioned pleas supporting a proposed community center at the former Sullivan West High School.The 13 public speakers at the Thursday evening Sullivan County Board of Education meeting at Ketron Elementary included graduates from Sullivan West, which began as Sullivan High in 1931, was later expanded and renovated and even later became a middle school before closing in 2021.During the meeting, Vice Chairwoman Angie Stanley of Colonial Heights made a motion for school officials and a community center leader to meet and work out a proposal for the center to move forward despite current disrepair of the building, including water damage evident in a school board tour almost a year ago.However, she withdrew that motion later and Director of Schools Chuck Carter agreed to meet with school board attorney Chris McCarty and the community center leader and report back to the school board at a called meeting 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10.Member Todd McKinley of Bloomingdale said he would not support demolishing the building, although Member Mary Rouse of the Bristol area said she did not favor selling the land and building."To those who want to see a Sullivan Gardens Community Center come to fruition, I'm right there with you," McKinley wrote in an email statement Friday morning."I gave you my word and that's not something I plan to take back. I don't want to speak for the entire Board of Education, but for me, your humble 5 District representative, to garner the support of those who are close to committing but want a few assurances," he wrote."I'm happy to agree to a reasonable yet legally binding document, a.k.a. a glorified memorandum of understanding for lack of a better term, be entered into to assuage the reasonable concerns of a few of my colleagues and I believe a deal can be reached. Nothing too unreasonable all the way around."PUBLIC COMMENTERSTim Nelson, a pastor who kicked off 13 public commenters, gave a litany of uses for the center: expanded library, senior center and activities meeting room for groups, community kitchen and banquet room, gym for basketball and pickleball, community computer room, tutoring, music and Bible lessons, a Sheriff's Office satellite office, model/toy trains quilt exhibits, YMCA and Meals on Wheels work, volunteer fire department meeting and training space and a base for disaster relief."As a taxpayer, I can't understand why we should spend $1 million tearing down a building that is so beloved," Nelson said.Steffey later during public comment said, "The main goal of our group is youth enrichment programs."EXPENSES EITHER WAYArchitects have give the school system an estimate of about $580,000 to tear down the building, but Manuel Steffey of the community center not-for-profit group said some people have told him it could be more like $1 million because of asbestos and other issues.Keeping the gym and some adjoining areas would cost more than $3 million, the architects said, while they said a complete rehab of the whole school would be about $12 million.The Board of Education is admittedly struggling with the proposal, torn between protecting the safety of students in the adjoining Sullivan Gardens Elementary School versus the benefits of a community center.The board also is wrestling with worries about if the Fred and June Childress Foundation can help provide enough money to renovate the building.FOUNDATION SUPPORTJames Holmes, who oversees that foundation, also spoke publicly to the board for the first time.He emphasized the foundation's support for children in the Sullivan Gardens/Colonial Heights communities, saying that over the past eight years, 60 graduates of high schools have received $452,000 in college scholarships worth $2,500 a year for up to four years. He said the foundation is willing to give the community center assistance with funding programs and the building.Steffey recently presented the board a written proposal to buy the building and laid out proposals to limit what could be housed there and a reversion clause for the school board to reassume ownership if things went awry.He Thursday reaffirmed that the group is willing to have part of the old high school building demolished closest to the elementary school because of poor conditions and safety of the elementary students.Other speakers included Megan Hopkins, director of the Sullivan Gardens Branch Library; she hopes to move into the community center from its current smaller location next to the old high school.Jill Riggs gave a history of education in Sullivan Gardens, including the school."The school is not just brick and mortar. It is the heartbeat of our generations," Riggs said. "Permit us to be remembered as a generation that had the vision to save" the school.Yet other speakers included Randall Chase, a 1969 Sullivan High graduate; Thomas Lawson, who has helped do painting and other projects at the nearby athletic filed a recreational athletic association leases, as well as Sullivan Heights Middle and West Ridge High schools; Alicia Starnes; Steffey; Denise Compton; Joyce Ball Patton, who said her doctor graduated from the former high school; Scott Murray, who lives next to the school; Kay Smith; and Doug Patton, president of the Kingsport Model Train Project.Patton said the train group in six months to a year will have to vacate its space at the Lynn View Community Center, formerly the old county Lynn View High School. Kingsport City Schools plans to raze for the city-owned site of a new 750-student elementary school in the Lynn Garden section of Kingsport.