City gets a key approval for new airport

PDF: Cleveland Airport Authorization

PDF: Questions

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has approved Cleveland’s plan to deal with six sinkholes at the Tasso airport site.

The approval memo was received Monday from TDEC geologist Carrolyn Sullivan.

Last week, the city also received its stormwater runoff permit for the airport site from TDEC.

Mark Paslick, the city’s airport consultant, said Monday that the first phase of site preparation could begin by the end of the month.

In the sinkhole memo from TDEC, Ms. Sullivan notes the city “wishes to repair two sinkholes, leave two sinkholes natural and modify two sinkholes’’ to allow drainage into a ditch.

The memo addresses questions raised about the sinkhole plan and safety to nearby wells among other questions at an August public hearing.

Mr. Paslick said Monday that the TDEC memo is approval of the sinkhole plan, not a permit. But by midweek, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to pass along the approval to TVA to issue the final key permit, he said.

“Only then can the city have a preconstruction meeting with Wright Brothers Construction, the contractor,’’ said City Manager Janice Casteel.

Wright Brothers recently was awarded the $5.7 million first-phase work.

On Friday, TDEC issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to the city. The permit covers Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2012, and allows runoff into the Little Chatata Creek to Chatata Creek and from Rattlesnake Branch to Chatata Creek, all in the Tasso area.

A displaced wetland on the airport site is the next issue to be dealt with. Once the city has all its permits, the city plans to buy 30 acres at the former Rolling Hills Golf Course to create a replacement wetland.