Marchetta Cannon and her family have lived in Georgetown for 18 years just down Highway 58 south, less than a mile from the Highway 60-Highway 58 intersection. Her land is not impacted by the TVA’s new secret city, but she’s concerned about infrastructure and the planning that has been done on what TVA’s new compound will mean for the Georgetown area. She wonders if TVA has worked with county officials from three counties to consider infrastructure needs.
She speaks of Hamilton County employee Steven Evans, who was killed a half mile from the intersection in a tragic accident on March 24, 2011. His picture sits on a well-kept cross about a half mile going south from the main intersection.
“The road (Highway 58) needs to be widened now with the traffic we have now,” Marchetta says. “If you add hundreds of cars in the morning and afternoon, it could be a nightmare. Did TVA consider the impact this secret facility will have on roads out here?
"Other have died on this road.”
But it’s not just roads. Marchetta talks about how people living in the Georgetown think the self-contained wastewater system TVA is building at the secret site means sewer service will be available. “Totally wrong, but TVA just dumped this on us.”
She also wants to know if any blasting will be done if TVA condemns private property and cuts a new, 1-mile right of way to the site through farmland. “This is all rock out here,” she says. “We used 35 pounds of dynamite to put in our septic tank.”
Traffic. Sewer. Blasting. Marchetta knows a fast-food chain has owned property near the main intersection for years, and if the logical development comes, she worries the lack of infrastructure will create problems for residents.
“I see the potential good; most people do,” said Marchetta, “but TVA acts like the residents don’t exist. If the development comes in the next five years, Georgetown won’t be able to handle it.”
TVA needs to rethink what it is planning for Georgetown and be more transparent. TVA needs to do the right thing by citizens and taxpayers. Like our page. Share our posts. Write your elected officials. Keep up with the issue. #4TNFarms
