Cheatham County Exchange
ASHLAND CITY WEATHER

Braxton Lee offers land for new city hall




Ashland City’s longtime chaplain, Paul Robert Gupton, announced at the March city council meeting that he is planning to retire at the end of the year. Gupton, 87, has volunteered as the chaplain for 20 years.ELLIOTT WENZLER

Ashland City’s longtime chaplain, Paul Robert Gupton, announced at the March city council meeting that he is planning to retire at the end of the year. Gupton, 87, has volunteered as the chaplain for 20 years.ELLIOTT WENZLER

A representative from the Braxton Lee Homestead Foundation publicly offered part of the foundation’s property to the Town of Ashland City during the Tuesday, March 12 city council meeting.

“Last night the board members and investors, we all agreed in a meeting that we would like to give the city the needed land to build the new city hall,” said Stacey Stuart, a member of the foundation’s board of directors.

Stuart, who spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting, pointed out that neither the foundation nor its investors are looking for personal gain from the offer.

“The only vested interest we have is a vested interest in the community,” she said.

The council did not respond to the offer but planned to discuss it along with their other options for a new city hall at the Tuesday, March 19 budget meeting.

Under the foundation’s proposal, the town would have the property for the new town hall for free but it would also have to build a road on the property, Mayor Steve Allen said.

“They would just be giving us the acreage with the stipulation that we would have to put in a road and utility services,” he said.

As part of their decision-making process, the council members will determine if the construction of a road would be more expensive than constructing a new building at one of the other two sites, which are both on Main Street, he said.

The town is looking at new properties for city hall because of a lack of space in the current facility.

“We need a larger courtroom and larger offices,” Allen said. “We’re just overcrowded.”

The area the foundation is offering is at the end of Smith Street and has been surveyed for construction, Stuart said.

“We can vision a city hall placed on the foot of the hill, serving as a gateway to the very historical part that is significant to our area,” she said.

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