Proposed Amendment to the Watts Bar Reservoir Land Management Plan

TVA proposes to change the land use allocations for eight parcels of public land on Watts Bar Reservoir, affecting a total of 231.2 acres of TVA land in Rhea and Roane counties in east Tennessee. Up-to-date reservoir land management plans are needed to make land planning allocations on reservoirs consistent with standing TVA policies, regulations, plans, and other guidance to incorporate TVA's goals for managing natural resources on TVA public lands.

Update: January 2021

The proposed Watts Bar Land Plan Amendment is scheduled to be approved in the summer of 2021.

Scope of the Proposed Amendment

The proposed Watts Bar Reservoir Land Management Plan (RLMP) Amendment includes modifications to the land use allocations on eight parcels affecting 231.2 acres, and it incorporates previous updates to parcel numbers, acreages, and allocations from the 2009 Watts Bar RLMP Errata Sheet, 2012 Kingston Recovery Plan, the Natural Resource Plan (NRP) and Comprehensive Valleywide Land Plan (CVLP). The land use allocations on the remaining 359 parcels affecting 13,193.8 acres would remain as designated in the 2009 Watts Bar RLMP and its supplements.

The RLMP Amendment also incorporates changes in “planned” land acreage from approximately 16,220 acres to about 13,425 acres to reflect the removal of 2,796.1 acres of power plant properties from “planned” TVA reservoir land, consistent with the NRP and CVLP.  It also includes updated new parcel descriptions for the 367 parcels within the approximately 13,425 acres of TVA reservoir property.

TVA-managed public lands on Watts Bar Reservoir are within Loudon, Meigs, Rhea, and Roane counties in east Tennessee and the proposed allocation changes are on parcels within Rhea and Roane counties. The final SEA considers the environmental impacts associated with the proposed modifications to the land use allocations for the following parcels in the table below. 

Parcel
Acreage
Current Allocation
Proposed Allocation Change Description
8935.0Zone 4—Natural Resource ConservationChange 0.4-acre portion (new Parcel 89a) of the 35.0-acre parcel to Zone 7—Shoreline Access
144172.3Zone 3—Sensitive Resource ManagementChange entire 172.3 acre parcel (new Parcel 144a) to Zone 2—Project Operations
15340.6Excluded from 2009 RLMP

Change entire 40.6-acre parcel (new Parcel 153a) to Zone 7 - Shoreline Access

19736.8Zone 7—Shoreline AccessChange 10.2-acre portion (new Parcel 197a) of the 36.8-acre parcel to Zone 6 - Developed Recreation
251a3.2Zone 6—Developed RecreationChange entire 3.2 acre parcel (new Parcel 215b) to Zone 7 - Shoreline Access
25634.2Zone 7—Shoreline AccessChange 0.1-acre portion (new Parcel 256a) of the 34.2-acre parcel to Zone 4 – Natural Resource Conservation
27114.0Zone 4—Natural Resource Conservation   Change 2.4-acre portion (new Parcel 271a) of the 14.0-acre parcel to Zone 6 – Developed Recreation
274a2.0Zone 5—IndustrialChange entire 2.0 acre parcel (new Parcel 274b) to Zone 7 - Shoreline Access

The proposed land use allocation changes are consistent with the land use allocation ranges in the CVLP. The CVLP allocates a certain percentage of land for each of the seven land use zones (with the exception of Zone 1, Non-TVA Shoreland) across the entire Valley.

Maps

Individual parcel allocations can be examined using the link to the maps below:

Environmental Review

After reviewing and considering the public’s input, TVA has prepared a final SEA to analyze the environmental consequences of the proposed allocation changes. This environmental review is a supplement to the 2009 Watts Bar Reservoir Land Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement.

After the final SEA was issued, TVA identified two additional parcels (Parcel 251a and Parcel 274a) affecting 5.2 acres which merited land use allocation changes to reflect existing shoreline access rights. A memorandum to file was completed March 24, 2020 consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act and it is included at the link to Volume I below.

Watts Bar Land Plan Amendment Final Supplemental EA:

Contacts

For more information about reservoir lands planning, please contact:

Kelly R. Baxter
Senior Specialist
Tennessee Valley Authority
400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11A
Knoxville, Tenn. 37902
[email protected]