CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Wetland mitigation work related to construction of a new city airport likely will begin in late March, the airport authority chairwoman said Friday.
The wetland is being created on Freewill Road, away from the Tasso community where the airport will be located and an existing wetland disturbed, Cleveland Municipal Airport Authority Chairwoman Lynn DeVault said.
“Everyone in the community is looking forward to what will essentially be a walking trail and park,” Ms. DeVault said. “This project will also address some of the flooding in that area.”
The wetland mitigation site is on a part of what was once Rolling Hills Golf Course.
Authority members voted Friday to pay $331,628 for the project.
In a recent roundtable discussion of local issues with Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and about two dozen others, authority member Lou Patten pointed out that 90 percent or more of the estimated $30 million airport cost will be federally funded. The existing city airport property will be sold and the money applied to the cost as well.
“If we are going to compete for jobs in the future, we need a modern, general aviation airport,” Mr. Patten said at the discussion.
Groundbreaking at the airport site is expected in late March as well. The exact date will be announced at the authority’s March meeting, City Manager Janice Casteel said.
Meanwhile, a March 16 hearing has been scheduled in Nashville before the Tennessee Water Quality Board to hear environmental concerns filed by the Tennessee Clean Water Network about the airport site at Tasso.
The clean water network’s petition says the airport “will discharge stormwater containing sediments and pathogens” to two nearby streams, Little Chatata Creek and Rattlesnake Branch. The petitioners argue that TDEC violated its own rules by allowing the creation of a pollution source.