Posted on March 3, 2020
Loudon officials are still eyeing big things for the Steekee Creek dredging project.
The city last year was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to pay for dredging to create a marina.
“The ARC was formed to help bring economic prosperity to Appalachia, and we are in Appalachia,” Ty Ross, Loudon city manager, said. “It was a strong grant application, and they agreed that it made sense to try and open up Steekee Creek for boat traffic because that would be a new element of commerce for the city.”
Thompson Engineering representative Jamie Blanton is hopeful to begin work as early as October or “any wintertime period after.” Beginning the dredging is dependent on Tennessee Valley Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers agreeing to grant the permit.
Blanton has provided preliminary drawings of what “Harbortown” could look like. The name is a callback to the community nickname for the area, “Pearl Harbor.”
“There’s a lot of stuff on that drawing,” Ross said. “Just about a week ago, they (TVA and ACE) were in here and what we had done was a, we call it a pre-submittal conference. We just talked through what the permit application might look like before it is submitted, and they provided oral feedback, ‘Well, we do like this, we don’t like this,’ and sort of gave us a guide, which was very nice of them to do, so that the permit application would be better received. So, now Jamie is working on something new based on that feedback.”
Ross said it could take months to receive a decision for permit application.
There will be various surveys of the land for measurements to aid in planning.
“Chiefly they are documents required to support necessary permit applications, which will include a review of impacts to floodways, existing water features recognized by regulatory authorities and other resources potentially impacted,” Blanton said.
A topographic survey and a survey of the public “to ensure there is support for the plan” have also been completed.
The cost of the project is still unknown.
“It depends on where ACE and TVA let us dredge, and then what the quantities are, and that will determine a price,” Ross said. “There are still measurements to be taken, and then work will be bid out, and then we’ll have a cost.”
Blanton said an estimated cost is not available.
“Construction costs are rising far quicker than our best collections of data in East Tennessee can keep up with,” he said. “Recent work of this nature, when compared against published state bid prices from the previous year, can be twice or three times as high depending on schedule and complexity. However, this plan is shown to allow construction of portions at a time as opposed to building all features at once. This should make improvements more affordable over the development period.”
Loudon Mayor Jeff Harris remains optimistic the project will occur.
“I fully expect it to follow through and happen, but we’re still in the early stages of that,” he said. “The plans are to continue with that project.”
He believes the project could be a “game-changer” for the city.
“I mean I think it could change the whole landscape of downtown, especially with the boat traffic that we could capture and everything off the river,” Harris said. “So I think that would pretty much change the whole landscape of downtown for the better.”
Source: news-herald.net
