John Shearer: As June 8 Community Meeting Planned, Scott Martin Excited To Lead City Parks

Ever since he was young, Scott Martin knew that he wanted to work in a parks-related vocation.

 

And since he began his professional career, he also knew he wanted to do such work in Chattanooga, even though he is not originally from here.

 

“In the parks world, Chattanooga is a big deal,” he said of the community that has taken on the moniker of Outdoor City in recent years due to its area wide green spaces, scenic spots, and recreational opportunities.

“You want to be here if you work in parks.”

 

As further evidence, he mentioned that he had made a personal list back in 1998 of communities where he would like to work, and Chattanooga was on the list.

 

Mr. Martin recently began serving as administrator of the revamped city parks department, now called Chattanooga Parks & Outdoors and which has become the umbrella for such divisions as parks, recreation, open spaces, planning and design, and Outdoor Chattanooga.

 

He said this is the largest department he has overseen after recently directing the non-profit River Heritage Conservancy, which created a 600-acre park by the Ohio River in Louisville, Ky. He has also worked in such diverse areas as Virginia and Idaho and is glad to be back surrounded by mountains after being in the flatter Louisville area.

 

“Being around mountains reminds us how small we are,” he said with a smile.

 

But his hopes for the city parks’ future are big, and during an interview at Riverview Park, his eyes were also focused down as much as up at any elevated places. In fact, while he loves parts of this park off Barton Avenue, he said he might not have put a concrete sidewalk in the middle of the grass, adding that it allows less space for various grass-only recreation activities.

 

He has also been doing some other visioning since he arrived, and he wants Chattanoogans to join him in planning the future of the city parks system. Saying the city has not done some planning regarding its parks in about two decades, he said an initial community planning meeting will be held Wednesday, June 8, at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center auditorium.

 

“We are kicking off our generation's initiative to ask ‘what's next?’ for Chattanooga's neighborhoods, outdoors, and livability through the citizen-led creation of a new Parks & Outdoors Plan - the POP,” he said, adding they want to provoke people “to open their lenses.”

 

The event, lasting from 5 to 7:30 p.m., will include a review of planning boards done by Colorado-based Design Workshop, a presentation, live polling, and interactions by attendees with the planning materials and planning team. 

 

Mr. Martin said he is excited to see what comes out of the meeting and later planning.

 

“If you do it right, it becomes very predictable and doable,” he said of the long-range goals regarding the parks plan. “It can’t be a plan that sits on a shelf and collects dust.

 

“If you build a good park system, great things happen.”

 

The planning, which will include future meetings and even parks officials coming to neighborhood meetings if invited, will include everything from looking at improving existing parks and their accessibility, to possibly creating more park land.

 

Mr. Martin, who said that more information about the planning process can be found at www.chattanoogaparksandoutdoorsplan.com, said he has already learned that Chattanoogans love to talk about their parks and greenspaces. 

 

And as Chattanooga is becoming denser, with increasing numbers of residences and commercial spaces, parks and their availability become even more important in making areas livable, he added. 

 

As he talked in his energetic and enthusiastic manner, he used several times as an example how Central Park has improved life in Manhattan in New York.

 

“The only way to have density is to have parks,” he said. “We know the two work in sync.”

 

Mr. Martin jokingly added that he has been a close observer of the calls for denser and more residential development due to a housing shortage here and other places, because he and his wife, Jennifer, and their two dalmatians have only been able to find a place to rent in Middle Valley so far.

 

 

Mr. Martin’s appreciation for parks started while growing up in Hopewell, Va., south of Richmond. He later attended Boise State University and became a big fan of the football program known for its blue artificial turf. 

 

But it was also greenspace that drew his attention, and he became a park ranger while in college. He later became a partnership coordinator for the parks system in Boise, and he has also held such positions as parks and recreation and leisure services director in Franklin County, Va., and parks director for The Parklands of Floyds Fork in Louisville.

 

Since arriving in Chattanooga, he has also tried to visit all 87 parks in the city system. His favorites have included St. Elmo Park at 4909 St. Elmo Ave. among the older parks and Southside Community Park at 3501 Central Ave. among the newer ones.

 

He added that he is excited to be working in Chattanooga at a time when parks here and everywhere are getting more attention and becoming even higher-profile parts of urban areas as development pressures increase. That, in turn, has increased the role of his and others’ jobs, he mentioned.

 

“I don’t think there’s been a more exciting time to be working in public parks than today,” he said. “People seem to understand the value of city parks.”

 

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Jcshearer2@comcast.net