Backers of a national park at Moccasin Bend may have to settle for about
85 percent of what they want.
Congressman Zach Wamp said Friday that if the National Park Service
insists on closing the 33-year-old golf course at Moccasin Bend, he will
submit legislation to Congress that would create a park of about 800
acres, instead of the 950 acres desired by advocates of a national park
there.
The course would remain on slightly more than 150 acres, situated
between the park and the Moccasin Bend Sewage Treatment Plant.
The Park Service submitted its final report to Rep. Wamp this week. The
report calls for inclusion in the proposed park of all 956 acres on the
Bend. It also recommends removing "existing incompatible uses," namely
the golf course and 42-year-old Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute,
in an effort to restore the cultural landscape of the area.
"I want to see Moccasin Bend added to the Chickamauga and Chattanooga
National Military Park," Rep. Wamp said during a phone interview from
his Washington office. "I want to see an interpretive center there. I
want to see the Trail of Tears properly recognized and an educational
series of trails through the Bend that connects to the Riverwalk.
"But we can't ignore the public input from those served by the
mental-health hospital or those who enjoy the golf course."
To that end, Rep. Wamp said, he'll have legislation written in April and
ready for the principals to peruse in May.
Frank M. "Mickey" Robbins, chairman of the mental health institute's
long-range planning committee, said any arrangement dealing with
Moccasin Bend should protect the hospital and ensure that services for
the mentally ill remain available here.
"We want to have nothing that threatens the hospital in this location,"
said Mr. Robbins, past chairman of the hospital's board of trustees.
"It's important that we ... stand very firm in support of this hospital.
It's critical that we insist that these services remain."
Mr. Robbins said that provisions should be made to ensure that Hamilton
County would still have a state hospital offering services to the
mentally ill if the National Park Service insists that the Moccasin Bend
facility be closed before it takes control of the property.
During Moccasin Bend trustees' March meeting, Harry Ray, Moccasin Bend
board chairman, said he's been told that the Park Service wants the
state to close the hospital and "restore the property to its natural
state."
Rep. Wamp said the Park Service report calls for the mental health
institute to be closed in 10 years. He said such a timeframe is just
"too short."
His legislative proposal would "significantly extend that date, perhaps
to 2019," said Rep. Wamp. By then, he said, the physical plant would
need to be replaced anyway.
Meanwhile, Rep. Wamp said he's heard the voices of park service,
hospital and golf course advocates, including 5,000 people who signed a
petition asking that the public golf course remain open.
"I am committed to all of these different communities -- the
mental-health community, the golf community and the Native American
community, as well as the state, the city and the county," Rep. Wamp
said.
"We're going to float some legislation, see who has heartburn, then see
if we can give them a Tums and work through this."
Rep. Wamp said that the option to "grandfather" the golf course into the
park wasn't given him by the Park Service's planning team.
"If the Park Service is adamant that the golf course close, it (the golf
course acreage) won't be included in my legislation," said Rep. Wamp.
"The golf course is a good buffer between the sewage treatment plant and
the proposed park. Furthermore, I haven't seen any evidence that the
golf course property is a burial ground that is absolutely essential to
the park proper.
"Closing the golf course," Rep. Wamp said, "is not an acceptable option
for the thousands of people who use that facility."
The golf course is operated by Moccasin Bend Golf Club Inc., which
leases the land from the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County.
Wes Brown, MBGC vice president, said Friday that if the lease is
extended by 20 to 25 years that his company would make substantial
improvements to the course. The current lease is set to expire in 2005.
"We intend to invest $1 million in rebuilding greens, improving
irrigation, and so forth," Mr. Brown said. "Our proximity to downtown is
very important to a lot of people, the men and women who work downtown
and play golf."
Attempts to reach officials from Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park
were not successful.
(Political Editor Michael Finn contributed to this report.)
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