The Wright family of Wright Brothers Construction has asked the city of Cleveland, Tennessee, to delay action on Project River, the family’s expansive proposed industrial campus in Bradley County.
In a statement released by a spokesperson Friday, the family said it wanted to take time to address concerns raised by neighbors about the project. Plans for the campus include two power plants totaling 1,500-megawatts of electricity generation to serve an industrial customer, likely a data center.
“The Wright family has lived, worked, worshiped and raised children in Bradley County for generations. Nothing is more important to the Wright family than being a good neighbor,” the statement said. “To that end, with the community’s best interest in mind, the Wright family has requested that the city of Cleveland temporarily delay further action on Project River until the Wright family can onboard a third-party team of technical experts to review every aspect of this project and address concerns raised through public engagement over the last few weeks.”
(READ MORE: Wright family accepts Cleveland’s conditions for Project River data center campus)
The family is planning the project on more than 800 acres it owns in North Bradley County along the Hiwassee River. Developers on the project have asked the city of Cleveland to approve requests to rezone and annex the land into the city limits.
The requests would go through the city’s Planning Commission and City Council for consideration. A city press release before the family’s delay request said no action would be taken until October at the earliest.
Wright family requests Project River delay to address public concerns
The family is developing Project River in a personal capacity and not as an official project of Wright Brothers Construction, a heavy civil and industrial construction firm based in Charleston, Tennessee.
The campus would feature a 500-megawatt woody biomass plant, the largest of its kind in the U.S. The plant would burn pine trees and other pulpwood timber from the region to produce a gas that fuels turbines to produce power, developers said.
Project River would create as many as 2,600 permanent jobs, between 900 on site and 1,700 indirectly in a reinvigorated local logging sector, according to project plans.
“Project River gives hope to thousands of local men and women who see an opportunity to increase their wages and restore their careers after decades of stagnant pay and mill closures,” the Wright family’s statement said. “They should not lose hope.”
The project would also include a 1,000-megawatt gas-fired power plant and a 360-megawatt connection with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s grid for backup power. Altogether, the campus would include enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 1 million homes.
But the power generated on site would be for an industrial user, and developers have said the most likely candidate is a data center.
The family introduced the project to Bradley County residents in a series of meetings hosted at the PIE Center in Cleveland on Sept. 1 and Sept. 12. At the first meeting, a large crowd of residents appeared mostly opposed to the proposal, questioning claims that functionally all power and water for a data center would come from the campus itself.
Project developers said the meeting was the first public engagement of many and that they would continue working with residents to address concerns ahead of votes on rezoning and annexation.
Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.