Committee receives more than $500,000 in pledges toward Batey property purchase

A committee of Hendersonville residents is asking for pledges as they look to potentially purchase what is known as the Batey Farm property and preserve it as a passive park space. An estimated 700 to 800 people attended an informational meeting at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville Monday night to learn more about how they can help.

“It’s amazing … to see how many people take such pride in their city,” said Mayor Jamie Clary. “This is a committee that no one appointed…This is a group of people who said ‘we need to do this.’ I appreciate this very much.”

Committee member Jeff Cundiff said purchasing the property was important to him because he felt it would enhance residents’ quality of life.

“Growing up here, we had a benefit of a wonderful quality of life due to active parks in our community and also the open spaces in the community,” he said. “This property is the last large tract of land on our peninsula that we could potentially preserve forever intentionally for all generations.”

Cundiff said the only way to preserve the land was with the support of Hendersonville residents.

“We need pledges,” he said. “We are not here to ask for money at this time.”

Instead, he said, they are asking residents to pledge what they are comfortable with. If they can get enough pledges, they will have something to bring to the table as far as purchasing the property.

Cundiff said there were several interested parties in purchasing the property.

“Time is of the essence. We have to do this now. Our first attempt is, if we all band together and pitch in, maybe we can pull this off. We really think we can," he said.

Members of the committee also spoke to the Hendersonville Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week to explain their plan.

The 73-acre property is currently for sale for $3 million. The owner granted the committee an extension until the end of January to come up with the funds, they explained to the board, and the committee is hoping to form a nonprofit to purchase the property, should they receive enough pledges.

As of Tuesday afternoon, administrators on the Friends of Indian Lake Peninsula posted that they had received $505449 in pledges.

For more information, visit the Friends of Indian Lake Peninsula Facebook page or click here to make a pledge.



Sumner News Editor Amy Nixon can be reached at anixon@gannett.com or 615-946-7549.

