CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The plan seemed a bit far-fetched: Relocate four streams and create a wetland area in a matter of months on 121 acres of former farmland.
But there was a lot at stake.
If the streams – tributaries forming the headwaters of the Little Chatata Creek, which eventually flow to the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers – couldn’t be dealt with, 1,700 jobs at Cleveland’s largest employer might be lost.
“It was a deal maker or breaker for us,” said Doug Berry, vice president of the Economic Development Industrial Board of Bradley County and Cleveland.
Bradley County’s oldest operating industry, Whirlpool, had decided to combine its three older plants into a single modern one and needed a new site, Berry said.