TVA gets thousands of comments on land use plan

The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors has received plenty of advice on how it will manage the utility's shoreline properties.

The board could vote this week on a proposal to declare TVA's 293,000 acres of public lands along its lakes off limits to residential and commercial development.

More than 4,300 people have submitted comments about the proposal, said TVA spokesman John Moulton. About 300 of the comments were submitted after TVA reopened the comment period Nov. 16.

Tuesday is the final day to submit comments during the extended period. Comments can be submitted by e-mail only.

The original comment period ended Nov. 3. It was extended at the urging of numerous local and federal elected officials across the Tennessee Valley, including U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala., said TVA spokesman Gil Francis.

The proposal to protect TVA's lakefront lands has sparked a debate. Numerous elected officials and developers contend the proposed plan would hinder economic development in the Valley. Many environmental groups and lake users argue the plan would ensure the public has shoreline access to TVA's reservoirs.

Land already designated for use as marinas and industrial sites would be available for development under the plan.

Francis said comments about the proposal have come from throughout the seven-state TVA region.

TVA Chairman Bill Sansom told the Associated Press he expects the board will adopt the proposal. Sansom has said TVA's shoreline lands should be treated like national parks and protected.

If TVA adopts the plan, it would prevent a proposed retail development, including a Bass Pro Shops store, from being built at Veterans Park in Florence.

In a letter to TVA, the mayors of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, along with other elected officials and community leaders in the Shoals, wrote that the park is an important part of an economic development project in the Shoals. That project, the result of a partnership with Shoals governments and the Retirement Systems of Alabama, includes the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa and a Robert Trent Jones golf complex.

In the letter to TVA, Shoals officials asked TVA to exclude Veterans Park from the proposed land management plan. The officials contend the park is part of TVA's Muscle Shoals Reservation, making it a power asset instead of reservoir property. Power asset lands are not included in the proposed plan.

Moulton, however, said if the plan is adopted, it will include Veterans Park.

"Veterans Park is part of the Wilson Dam Reservation property and will always be designated reservoir property," Moulton said.

The land management proposal is on the agenda for Thursday's TVA board meeting in Knoxville, Tenn.

Moulton is unsure if board members will just discuss the proposal or vote on adopting it. "That will be up to the board to decide."

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.