Preservation vs. development

By Dave Flessner and Sean McCombs Staff Writers

Staff Photo by Dan McLaughlin
Sandy Stone; her son, Harrison, 4; and their golden retriever Dusty spend time on the side of Nickajack Lake in the Shellmound Recreation Area. The family was traveling to their home in St. Louis and decided to camp for the night.


Two years after opening up lakefront property on the Tellico Reservoir for a luxury golf course and resort, the Tennessee Valley Authority is considering requests to transfer more public lands for similar residential and recreational complexes.

Collectively, the projects on both Watts Bar and Nickajack reservoirs could bring nearly $2 billion of new development to East Tennessee.

"This is a very attractive region of the country for many baby boomers entering their retirement years," said TVA Director Bill Baxter, a former commissioner for Tennessees Department of Economic and Community Development.

"Obviously these types of developments, if done in an environmentally and economically sensitive manner, can bring a lot of new jobs and investment to these communities," he said. Critics worry that TVA is turning over prime properties acquired for the general public to private developers serving primarily a wealthy few.

"The easiest thing to do on the TVA board is to give this land up for private developers who are eager to get every inch of lakefront property they can get," former TVA Chairman Craven Crowell said. "Its always a difficult balance between development and preservation. But I guess I always thought that since TVA sometimes used its power of eminent domain to acquire this land, we should err on the side of protection over development."

Five years ago, Mr. Crowell halted efforts to sell land on the Nickajack and Tellico reservoirs. But the current three-member board reversed the reservoir plan at Tellico two years ago to allow developer Mike Ross to begin building a $750 million residential and resort development known as Rarity Pointe.

TVA is now considering offers to buy or transfer major property parcels at Little Cedar Mountain on Nickajack Reservoir and along the Rhea County and Meigs County border on Watts Bar Lake. The properties are among 230,000 acres of public land controlled by TVA, mostly along the shoreline of the 652-mile-long Tennessee River and its tributaries.

LITTLE CEDAR MOUNTAIN DEBATE

Thunder Enterprises, the Chattanooga development firm headed by John "Thunder" Thornton, has offered to swap 832 acres of land and money in Marion County for the 637-acre Little Cedar Mountain site on Nickajack Lake. The largely undeveloped site between Interstate 24 and Nickajack Dam includes TVAs Shellmound Recreation Area.

TVA, which must approve any sale of its property, will conduct a public hearing Monday to determine whether to update its 1996 environmental assessment of the land.

Brandon Born, president of Thunder Enterprises, said his companys proposal would protect more property than it would use. The golf course, marina and recreation area proposed for the development would offer more opportunities for public use of TVA lands, he said.

"Our goal would be to put conservation easements on the entire 832 acres of property were trying to swap with TVA so that landowners and stewards cannot develop that property," Mr. Born said.

Marion County Mayor Howell Moss and other business leaders in and around Jasper, Tenn., are urging TVA to allow the land swap to help bring more development, jobs and tax revenues to their community.

Mr. Born said the land they are swapping with TVA has recreation and historical significance and, without the conservation easement offered by Thunder Enterprises, could be clearcut or otherwise developed. But Little Cedar Mountain also is regarded as environmentally and culturally sensitive. Tom Kunesh, a member of the Chattanooga Intertribal Association, said the site contains numerous cultural assets. The area was once occupied by Dragging Canoe, one of the most famous 18th century American Indian leaders.

"TVA gave us their word five years ago that they would not develop this site," Mr. Kunesh said.

A coalition of American Indian and environmental groups known as the Sacred Little Cedar Mountain Defense Coalition is being reactivated to fight Thunder Enterprises proposal, he said.

Jimmy Meeks, a Chickamaugua Indian who still speaks the language and practices the culture, said Little Cedar Mountain was one of Dragging Canoes favorite places.

"Its a site of burial grounds. In our culture, once a body has been buried there is no proper way to move it and bury it somewhere else," he said.

Michele Avendt, who operates the Shellmound Resort and Campground on the proposed development site, said she fears the project would move the campsites back away from the water and lessen public access to the lake. "Im going to do everything I can not to let it happen," she said. "This is my livelihood; this is my life. If anything happens to the land between the dam and the interstate, it ought to go back to the folks that own the land prior to TVA."

TVA Director Skila Harris said the TVA board will consider all of the views of area residents before deciding on any sale of public land.

"Its important that we hear what the people think of this proposal," she said. "I have a lot of confidence in our process."

WATTS BAR PLANS

TVA also is considering deeding 1,700 acres of land on the Watts Bar reservoir to Rhea and Meigs Counties. A board would be set up to handle the sale and development of the land. Current plans for the area include a golf course, marinas, residential development, natural areas and industrial parks.

Meigs County Mayor Ken Jones said those plans are preliminary, but any development would have to be approved by the new board and TVA.

"The whole plan is going to change," he said. "Once this development board is established, it will be responsible for establishing a master plan. That master plan will have to be followed."

Both Mr. Jones and Rhea County Executive Billy Ray Patton said the project could bring added tax revenue to the county, as well as jobs and economic development.

One developer interested in the Watts Bar reservoir project is Ronnie Golden, owner of Euchee Marina in Ten Mile, Tenn. He said hes been trying to bring residential development to Watts Bar Lake.

"Ive been trying to do that for 2 1/2 years," he said. "Even before I bought the marina, I was trying to buy some land from TVA to try to develop it."

On the Rhea County side of the lake there is similar interest from Carle Smith, owner of Watts Bar Resort. Mr. Smith tried to develop the property he leases from TVA two years ago, but his efforts were blocked. Sale of the land could make it easier for business owners to develop the property, officials said.

Mr. Baxter said the success of Rarity Pointe on the Tellico Reservoir "has demonstrated that you can have development and protect the environment." Mr. Ross said he already has presold $74 million of condominiums and is beginning to build a golf course and residential subdivision in Loudon County.

"Mike Ross has raised the bar on these types of developments and shown that they can be done in an environmentally responsible manner," Mr. Baxter said.

E-mail Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress
E-mail Sean McCombs at smcombs@timesfreepress.com

WHATS NEXT
TVA will conduct an open house on Dec. 13 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to receive public comments on the possible sale of up to 700 acres of property on the Nickajack Reservoir in Marion County. The meeting will be held at the South Pittsburg Elementary High School on Elm Avenue in South Pittsburg. Comments may also be sent to Chellye Campbell, TVA, P.O. Box 1010, Muscle Shoals, AL 35661

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