Wamp Says Bill For Park Would Spare Golf CourseHe said he is optimistic the legislation will pass.
Rep. Wamp said, "I am hearing a lot of people say we should leave the golf course as a buffer between the 800 acres of the national park and the sewage treatment plant.
"If at any point in the future it ceases to operate as a municipal golf course, then it could be added to the park. But we would effectively leave it out for now.'
On the other main sticking point on the national park _ Moccasin Bend Mental Health Hospital _ he said he is awaiting word from Gov. Don Sundquist and state officials "on their vision of the mental health picture in Tennessee over the next several years.'
Rep. Wamp noted the park study anticipates phasing out the mental hospital by 2009, but he said "we should not add any harsh "drop dead' provisions.'
He said, "We have just funded a $200,000 study of the bend and we shouldn't let too much time pass until we write the legislation to add the bend to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. If we wait three or four years, then it would be necessary to have a new study.'
The study, for which Rep. Wamp secured funding, says in order for the bend to become part of the national park system "the existing incompatible uses should be removed and the cultural landscape restored.'
Officials of Friends of the Moccasin Bend National Park have called for moving ahead now with setting up the park and dealing later with the golf course and mental hospital issues.
Rep. Wamp said he plans to draft the legislation in the first few months of next year. Property on the 956-acre Moccasin Bend is mainly owned by the state and Hamilton County.
Rep. Wamp was at Cravens House on the side of Lookout Mountain in connection with securing $1 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to acquire several tracts at the north end of the mountain to add to the national park.
That includes the Pan-O-Ram Club site across from Ruby Falls. Rep. Wamp said there have been numerous plans for developing it, including proposed high rises.
Bobby Davenport of the Trust for Public Land said a number of important sites on Lookout Mountain have been donated to the park, but he said certain significant properties could be obtained only through purchase.
Rep. Wamp said, "There was money available for this type acquisition through the LWCF, and I thought we should go after it.'
He said it was necessary to rewrite the law on how Chickamauga Park can obtain land, saying it previously had no authority for acquiring property.
The enabling legislation was first in the Omnibus Parks Bill, but when that entire bill failed it was included in the Omnibus Budget Bill.
Prepared 13:37 on 30-OCT-98