KNOXVILLE - Mayor Indya Kincannon and Knoxville City Council have taken significant steps to complete a number of important projects that started early in their tenure.

Specifically, City Council amended the current City budget to increase construction funding for Sam E. Hill Park and Burlington Streetscapes, as the Urban Wilderness Gateway Park nears completion. Additionally, Council appropriated privately-raised philanthropic funds to support more affordable housing.

The budget amendment – which requires a second vote on Dec. 9 – increases the total Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget by $6.6 million. Except for the $570,000 in private funding received from the United Way of Greater Knoxville for affordable housing, the funds are being moved from the City’s reserves.

The two largest projects being funded are $4.2 million more for an overhaul of the Burlington commercial corridor and $1.25 million to move into Phase 2 of the Sam E. Hill Park Project, which includes construction of a pavilion and restrooms at the Lonsdale park.

“Knoxville residents, including Lonsdale and Burlington families, need to know: The City stands by our commitments,” Mayor Kincannon said. “We do what we say.

“Investing in Sam E. Hill Park and in Burlington were the right moves a few years ago, and they’re still critically important investments. Even as material and labor costs have gone up, families are counting on us to deliver. We intend to do just that.”

The Burlington Streetscapes Project will replace the crumbling sidewalks on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue between Kirkwood and Shelby streets (and along Prosser Road from MLK to Holston Drive) with wide, smooth, ADA-compliant and tree-lined sidewalks. The project includes new traffic signals and streetlights, with overhead utility lines being relocated.

Many decades ago, Burlington boasted a robust commercial district. The revitalized streetscape will encourage private reinvestment in Burlington and along the Magnolia Avenue corridor. The City’s investment totals roughly $17 million, anchored by a new Knoxville Fire Department station being built in Burlington.

Additionally, Council approved appropriating $200,000 to collect data and evaluate ways to save energy and taxpayer money by reducing energy use at City facilities, and $50,000 to the Knoxville Area Urban League to support the nonprofit’s housing, economic development and workforce development training.

The $570,000 in private philanthropic funding going to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, meanwhile, will be used to support the 10-unit Parkview Project and the 15-unit Edgewood Apartments Project.

In other business, Council approved:

• An additional $163,112 for more street resurfacing, raising the Phase II contract for 19 miles of streets in City Council Districts 1, 2, 4 and 6 to $5.16 million. The new funding covers traffic-calming projects and repairs to Cecil Avenue.

• A $162,560 contract amendment to finalize work on the Urban Wilderness Gateway Park, which will include a 23,000-square-foot pavilion and plaza with four restrooms, shade structures, picnic tables, and play structures that will be nestled into the slopes, amid natural boulders and landscaping. The park is expected to open in early 2026.