Grand Lakers United Enterprise Report –

GRDA meeting with Community Relations & Eco Systems

Tuesday morning, June 13^th I met with Community Relations Manager Holly Moore and the head of Eco Systems Dr. Darrell Townsend at GRDA headquarters in Vinita. The purpose of the meeting was to gather and exchange information with respect to the goals and objectives of our organization. We spent a large portion of the nearly two hour meeting discussing the shoreline management plan currently being developed for the GRDA by Kleinschmidt & Associates.

We spent a good deal of time looking at the shoreline management plan adopted by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1999. We looked specifically at dock privileges and shoreline vegetation management. Some believe this plan will be the foot print used, with some changes, to develop the plan for Grand Lake.

I’m currently reviewing the entire plan, but some of the concerns we should have with a wholesale adoption of this plan are things like a maximum dock foot print of 1000 square feet. Another twist that will surprise many of you deals with vegetation management.

When the TVA plan was adopted in 1999, it established what is called a shoreline management zone. This is a mini green belt between average summer time lake elevation and adjacent maintained property. In short the cutting of trees, mowing of grass and spraying of vegetation were not allowed in the SMZ. Application can be made for the removal of hazardous trees and pruning could also be applied for to improve the view. The spraying of poison ivy and oak were permitted. But here’s one we have not heard of on Grand Lake.

If you were to buy a new lot to construct a lake front home on property adjacent to waters managed by the TVA, that lot could be cleared any way you like to the SMZ boundary. From that point, if you had applied for and been granted a permit for a dock, a twenty foot wide pathway to where your dock’s walkway was anchored to shore is all that is allowed below the smz boundary. Again, application could be made for pruning trees, removing poisonous growth, etc, but with no guarantees. As a matter of record, it would be a mistake to believe being granted a dock permit was a right….it isn’t automatic.

Many of you have inquired as to what can and cannot be done on the shoreline in front of your property right now. Since the knee jerk reaction by the authority to criticism of allowing tree removal below the taking line, their message has been somewhat inconsistent depending on whom you ask. But the man, Dr. Townsend, made it simple even though some of you might not like it when he said, “For now, if you have maintained the shoreline in front of your property you can continue to do so as in the past, but you need to understand the SMP may change that.”

During our meeting, I explained to both Moore and Townsend that our group was what I called average Grand Lakers. We understand the importance of water quality and protecting the environment, but for the most part we endorse managed growth. We have no vendetta against any commercial operator or any one else on Grand Lake. I told them our primary function was to preserve a tradition we all have come to love for future generations of Grand Lakers. That in addition to nature and the pure beauty our lake has to offer that the amenities offered by commercial operators have played a great role in the popularity of Grand Lake.

In the end, I explained to the staff that many Grand Lakers feared a “Sell Out” by the authority when the shoreline management plan finally shakes out. I reinforced the fact that we appreciate the privileges associated with being on a GRDA managed lake and we support them, but if we sensed a “Sell Out” that would not be the case. They requested we provide them with a list of our concerns in a more definitive form than simply the term sell out. If you would call or e-mail me your concerns I’ll compile such a list.

I emphasized that every head of the GRDA I can recall in my thirty years as a laker, has always felt way too much time and resources were spent on lake management when power generation was their main gig. To their credit, they were most receptive to my comments and revealed they are currently planning a newsletter designed to keep lake users updated on the development of the SMP and other issues.

Cheers from Grays Hollow