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This story appeared in The Times on Wednesday, October 7, 1998.
On Bend, it's park or hospital
By Judy Walton
The Chattanooga TimesQuestion: What's the difference between a mental health center and a national park?
Answer: If you have one on Moccasin Bend, you can't have the other.
And that could be a problem.
Local leaders say that, though they'd love to have a national park at Moccasin Bend, they won't promote one at the expense of the hospital that provides inpatient care and mental health services for the region.
At the same time, Gov. Don Sundquist is completely unencouraging about the possibility of moving the facility elsewhere.
But the National Park Service's vision of a historical and interpretive center on the Bend blinks at leaving the large hospital complex. And hospital officials, absent even a hint of future funding for a new building, have quietly moved to stake out a spot at the Volunteer Site.
Local eyes are turned this week to first looks at the draft management plan for Moccasin Bend put together by the Park Service. A public hearing will take place Oct. 20 and eventually Congress will decide whether to create a park at the Bend.
In sum, the plan says this:
The sites and relics of human history at the Bend, encompassing prehistoric and American Indian civilization, the first European contact and the fraternal bloodshed of the Civil War, are timeless, priceless and deserving of protection and of interpretation.
But NPS doesn't want the job of taking out the parts that aren't priceless and historic -- like the hospital, a golf course, radio towers and a private home.
So if the locals agree to take out all those incompatible uses and get the site all cleaned up, NPS will take it and turn it into a park.
The draft outlines a 10-year schedule for acquiring the 956 acres of the proposed park in four sections. It estimates a cost of about $18 million to clean up the site, stabilize the riverbank and create the park, and another $1 million a year to run it.
Most of that's no problem. Local leaders and advocates like Friends of Moccasin Bend believe Chattanooga's famous public-private partnerships have a role to play in fund raising and preparation. So do other federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and TVA. The project has a friend in U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, who secured the funding for the Park Service study.
But the hospital could be a sticking point.
Wamp said he, Hamilton County Executive Claude Ramsey and Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey are solidly together on making sure mental health services are preserved for the region.
"I'm pretty adamant about it," Ramsey added Tuesday.
But Ramsey, who is friends with Sundquist, said he hasn't heard any signals from the administration about moving the hospital to accommodate the park.
"To move a facility that size and pay for another one is a long-range commitment. The state hasn't made that effort and as far as I know hasn't been asked to," Ramsey said. "You're talking millions and millions of dollars to do that -- I don't think it's feasible to talk about that right now."
Sundquist said just about the same thing through spokeswoman Beth Fortune.
"The governor would support a national park to the extent there were adequate provisions made for patients at Moccasin Bend," she said. "As of right now we are unaware of any alternative provisions for them."
Sundquist's administration has been accused in the past of having its knife out for the treatment center. Ms. Fortune said that's not the case presently.
"As of right now we have no present plans to close Moccasin Bend," she said. "As of right now."
But who knows what might happen over the next 10 years?
The hospital, at least, is looking to the future.
Chairman Harry Ray said the hospital board has asked the county for 50 acres at the Volunteer Site, "just keeping our options open."
After all, the hospital site at the tip of the Bend is the last section of the park's planned phase-in. By 2008 the facility will be 50 years old.
"It could be a great thing to have a brand-new hospital for modern care," said Frank M. "Mickey" Robbins, who is both a hospital board member and president of the Friends of Moccasin Bend.
But he estimates the cost of a new facility at $50 million to $70 million, and frankly says it's unlikely the state will cough up that kind of money soon.
"Our understanding is that as long as the services are provided at that location it will be allowed to continue as is," Robbins said. "The key thing is we have a major regional health facility in this area serving the citizens of Tennessee."
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