BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – The boat ramp at Observation Knob Park has been closed for the past two months because of low lake levels, and fixing it will require a special permit from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
According to TVA’s Web site, South Holston Lake was at 1696.5 feet above sea level at noon on Wednesday, which is about 32 feet short of the lake’s prescribed summer-time level.
TVA officials have blamed the extremely low water levels this summer and last on the ongoing drought.
The park is owned by Sullivan County. Park Superintendent Dan Helton said on Wednesday that he had to close the boat ramp on July 26 because it no longer reached the water’s edge. He told members of the County Commission’s Observation Knob Park Committee that the ramp would have to be extended by 50 feet if it is to be used through the park’s season, which runs from mid-April to Nov. 1.
Building the extension would cost $5,000, Helton said, but park staff would first have to remove two islands that sit where the new ramp would end.
“Those islands would not let the boats get in,” Helton said. “If you extend [the ramp] 50 feet it’s just going to be an absolute waste.”
But moving the islands would require a permit from the TVA, which owns and operates South Holston and a number of other lakes in the area.
The permit would cost $500 and take at least six months to get. Committee members told Helton to go ahead and apply for the permit, despite the wait.
The committee also talked briefly about installing new playground equipment and refurbishing the park’s bathroom, but took no action.
“We’ve got to have something that we can offer these people,” County Commissioner Buddy King of Bristol, chairman of the committee, said of campground customers.
King said the park’s services must be improved so it can draw more renters. But he and the other committee members also said the park would have to bring in more money before any of this work could take place.
Observation Knob is set to get $71,000 – or about 40 percent of its total funding – from the county’s general fund in this year’s budget.
Helton said one way to increase the park’s revenue would be to reduce its rates for seasonal campers. The park, he said, only rented 27 of its 100 seasonal sites this year and as a result only brought in $32,000 from one of its biggest income sources.
Assistant Park Superintendent John Hall said a number of park guests have told him the seasonal rates should be lowered from $200 a month to $150 per month. He said the $150 rate is more in line with what is charged by other campgrounds on the lake.
“We’ve got to get that rate down to where people can live with it or else you might as well shut that campground down,” Hall said, adding that a number of park guests told him they wouldn’t be back next season without a rate reduction.
Committee members agreed and approved the rate reduction.
They also approved plans to let renters pay on a month-to-month basis if they sign a contract to stay for the full season.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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