A proposed consolidation of operations at TVA’s 110-year-old Ocoee Dam No. 1 in Polk County, Tennessee, could lead to the preservation of some of its aging historic buildings, according to a 126-page environmental report issued in February.
The two alternatives to finding occupants for the buildings to keep them maintained are to do nothing with them or to demolish them, according to federal officials.
One local historian wrote the Tennessee Valley Authority asking officials to slow down the process so all possibilities can be explored, but the comment period for an environmental review officially ended Friday.
“I think rushing a TVA decision is not in the best interest of the region,” said Linda Caldwell, former director of the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association and longtime local historian.
“While the TVA study has been underway a year, the general public is just now becoming aware of it,” she said. Caldwell urged a discussion with the chamber of commerce in Polk County because she’s worried good ideas will get shortchanged because the 30-day comment period was so brief.