Month: October 2017

TVA

The TVA’s Allen Combined Cycle Plant.

State officials should stop the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) from using wells drilled into the city’s drinking water to cool a new energy plant here until the utility can prove the plant won’t contaminate that water, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and an environmental consulting firm.

A Tuesday letter from Amanda Garcia, an SELC attorney, expressed “concern” to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, that the TVA will begin operating wells, bored into the city’s drinking water, before complying with a state-mandated investigation.

“Nevertheless, (a TVA plan submitted to TDEC last month) appears to contemplate operating the wells after performing only a perfunctory investigation that does not answer the crucial question of whether operating the production wells may pull arsenic and other contaminants from the ash pond groundwater into the Memphis Sand Aquifer,” Garcia wrote.

TVA drilled five wells into the Memphis Sand Aquifer earlier this year. TVA wants to use the city’s drinking water, called “the sweetest in the world,” to cool its new Allen Combined Cycle Plant.

TVA first said it would use waste water to cool the plant. But board members decided to use Memphis drinking water instead because treating the waste water would cost an additional $9 million-$23 million to the $1 billion project.

In May, TVA officials found high levels of arsenic and other toxins close to the wells it drilled into Memphis drinking water. Arsenic levels were 300 times times higher than federal drinking water standards. Lead levels there were also higher than federal safety standards.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) ordered an investigation and TVA said it wouldn’t use the wells util the investigation was complete.
Tennessee Valley Authority

TVA workers install water quality monitoring wells near the Allen Fossil Plant.

TVA conducted a 24-hour-long test run of the wells. Results from the tests aren’t yet available but Garcia said in her letter that the tests were only a “snapshot” and won’t be enough to predict long-term use of the wells.

TVA officials said in an August briefing that they intended to end the use of the coal-fired energy plant at the end of December. The SELC said state officials should stop them until the investigation is complete and they can ensure citizens that the wells won’t confidante their drinking water.

“To fulfill its obligation to protect the public health, TDEC should not countenance TVA’s attempt to circumvent the requirements of the (investigation),” Garcia wrote. “Please clarify as soon as possible whether TDEC has or will authorize TVA to implement the (plan) as proposed, or will require TVA to conduct its investigation in a manner that ensures the protection of the city of Memphis’s primary drinking water source.”

The SELC hired Global Environmental, a Nashville-based consulting firm, to review the TVA plan of the investigation. That revised focused, primarily, on the investigative activities proposed by a collaboration of the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and the University of Memphis Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research.

Mark Quarles, a principal scientist at the company, said, in short, the investigation won’t be enough.

“In summary and in my professional opinion, the USGS-UM proposed investigative approach falls short of providing reasonable certainty prior to startup of the combined cycle plant that the wells that TVA drilled into the Memphis Sand Aquifer will not pull contaminated groundwater from the Allen Fossil Plant deeper into the Memphis Sand Aquifer,” Quarles wrote in a Tuesday letter to TDEC.
[pullquote-1]Scott Brooks,  a spokesman for TVA, said the exact schedule for putting the new plant online “will depend on the results of the testing.” Though, he said, the plant is expected to be in operation before mid-2018.

“TVA is following the direction of TDEC as we conduct the investigation, which includes the recent 24-hour test of the 5 pumps into the Memphis aquifer and the installation of a network of 24 additional testing wells around the ash pond where the high readings were found,” Brooks said. “TVA does not plan to utilize the Allen gas plant cooling water wells for plant operations until the remedial investigation into arsenic contamination, found in shallow monitoring wells a half-mile away at the fossil plant, provides additional data to support safe use.”

The exact schedule of pre-operational activities will depend on results of the testing, he said. but noted the plant is expected to be in operation before mid-2018.

Seven Memphis neighborhoods will join a statewide grassroots initiative aimed at improving the overall health of the community.

Binghampton, Crosstown, Klondike Smokey City, Orange Mound, South Memphis, Uptown, and Vollintine Evergreen will participate in the Healthier Tennessee Communities program, the Governor’s Foundation for Health and Wellness announced Wednesday.

The initiative will be completely resident-led in the chosen neighborhoods. Over the next year, residents there will establish community wellness councils who will implement a health-driven neighborhood plan.

Launched in 2015, the Healthier Tennessee Communities program strives specifically to increase the number of Tennesseans who are physically active for at least 30 minutes five times a week, eat healthy diets, and use tobacco less.

According to the Governor’s Foundation, one in four adults and one in five high school students use tobacco in Tennessee. Additionally, about 33 percent of the state’s population is classified as obese, while type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are at “near-epidemic levels.”

Dr. Eziza Ogbeiwi-Risher of the Smokey City Klondike Community Development Corporation said in her neighborhood, she’s seen poor health turn into chronic disease, which turns into an an economic burden for many families.

“If you’re not healthy, you’re not able to work,” she said.

But, she said the residents have jump started efforts toward a healthier community, by tackling food access and growing community gardens. Additionally, she said a neighborhood farmer’s market is set to open there in the spring, followed by the launch of community cooking classes and efforts to encourage more park usage.

Healthier Tennessee Communities currently operates in 100 communities in the state; Memphis will be the first urban area to participate.

A vacant apartment complex in Frayser once on the brink of dilapidation is now in the early stages of a two-year renovation, and students in the community are helping to make it happen.

The renovation of the Peachtree Apartments on Steele kicked off in August when art students from nearby Martin Luther King College Preparatory High School collaborated with the UrbanArt Commission (UAC) to install colorful murals on the building’s exterior.

Quincy Jones, project manager at ComCap Partners, one of the groups collaborating on the project, said this first step was important for two reasons: It showed the community that vacant buildings can still be “vibrant and appealing during its time of transformation” and it got “residents to feel invested in the outcome.”

“We thought it would be a good opportunity to students there and it was a logical idea to involve them,” he said.

ComCap, along with Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. (NPI), another organization driving the effort, focuses much of their work on rehabilitating the environments near schools to improve housing stock for students and their families and to enhance students’ academic performance.

NPI president Steve Barlow said solving the housing insecurity problem is the key to neighborhood revitalization.

“High-quality, well-managed, truly affordable housing options for families are in short supply in Frayser and many Memphis neighborhoods,” Barlow said.

The result is housing insecurity, causing people to move many times a year “from one bad situation to another,” he said, which “hurts neighborhood schools and generally destabilizes the community.”

Inside the six buildings of the apartment complex, renovations began by gutting the buildings, to remove mold, lead, and asbestos. But, Jones said more funding is needed to continue work on the near $6 million project.

To secure more funding, he anticipates that existing private dollars will be matched with tax credits granted by Tennessee’s housing agency in the spring. Once funding is in place, the project will resume with interior remodeling, including the installation of new fixtures, floors, and walls.

When complete, the apartment complex will house about 51 affordable two- and three- bedroom units available for rent at prices comparable to those in other nearby apartments. Although necessary, Barlow said these types of affordable housing projects can be “very, very challenging.”

“Developing affordable rental housing in Memphis – whether it’s new construction or renovation of a blighted vacant building – is virtually impossible from an economics-only perspective,” he said, citing the high tax rate on multi-family real estate in Tennessee.

He adds in “transitional” neighborhoods like Frayser that have relatively low real estate values, it is harder to obtain funding. “Returns on investment in affordable housing development in Memphis just can’t compete with returns in other markets”

The revitalization of the Peachtree Apartments is a part of the larger Frayser Neighborhood Initiative, which in part is committed to improving the Dellwood corridor, or the “MLK Success Zone,” where the apartment complex and MLK Prep sit.

Overall, the initiative aims to end blight and advance economic development in the community.

DMC

The three-story property at 18 S. Main

The Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) is calling for proposals from developers to renovate a 29,000-square-foot brick building at 18 S. Main.

DMC officials say the goals of the project are to significantly improve the building’s Main Street facade, encourage commercial activity, and “bring vibrancy” to the street.

The commission, along with its affiliate Center City Development Corporation (CCDC), is calling for developers with experience in adaptive reuse to submit proposals by Jan. 3.

While the ground floor of the three-story brick building is temporarily being occupied by a tenant, the top two floors are vacant and in need of renovation, officials say.

The developer will fully renovate the building for mixed-use, with retail space on the ground floor and apartments or offices on the top floors.

Submitted proposals should also be financially feasible and able to begin construction within four months of selection.

Additionally, the selected developers must adhere to the DMC’s Equal Business Opportunity program, which requires that a “fair and open process” is used to select the general contractor and any subcontractors. The DMC also expects the developers to spend 20 percent of the project’s total costs contracting with minority and women business enterprises.

More information about the proposal submission guidelines is on the DMC’s website.

After the CCDC board of directors selects a developer, the final proposal is subject to approval by the Design Review Board.

There will be an onsite informational meeting and walk-through of the property for interested developers on Friday, Oct. 27 at 1:00 p.m.

The Memphis College of Art (MCA) has stopped accepting new students and will soon close, according to a statement released by the school’s board of directors Tuesday morning.

The school faces “declining enrollment, overwhelming real estate debt, and no viable long-term plan for financial sustainability,” the statement reads.

“This has been a heartbreaking process,” said MCA Interim President Laura Hine. “But we remain proud of the creative energy MCA artists have long brought to Memphis, and are eternally grateful to the donors and foundations who have sustained us throughout our 81-year history.
“The tremendous value of the artistic contributions made by MCA faculty, students, and graduates, over many decades, simply can’t be captured in words.”

The school has stopped admitting new students. But the school will provide sufficient funding to serve eh students who remain. Once existing students are served, the school will close.
Memphis College of Art – Facebook

The full wind-down period has not yet been determined but college officials said the school will likely be fully closed by 2020. MCA will immediately begin to dissolve its holdings, real estate and other assets, to pay debts and other liabilities.

The MCA board decision to close the school came from a long process “that eventually determined that an independent, private fine arts and design college is no longer financially sustainable in Memphis,” reads the statement. School leaders cut costs recently but they weren’t enough “to sustain operations beyond the current academic year without continued significant community support.”

“In the immediate term our attention is focused on the internal MCA family – our students, our faculty and our staff,” said Hine. “Going forward, we will rely on the thousands of MCA alumni in Memphis and across the country to carry on the legacy of the college through their art, their creative energy, and their innovation.”
[pullquote-1]The nonprofit MCA generated revenue of $20.8 million in 2015, according to tax documents. That was up $5 million over 2014 thanks in large part to a $4 million bump in grants and a $1 million bump in tuition and housing fees.

After expenses, the school made $263,575 in 2014. Those bumps in revenue helped the school end 2015 with $5.3 million in revenues over expenses, or what you’d call “profit” in the private sector.

Memphis College of Art – Facebook

The college, established in 1947, made some major moves in the last few years.

In 2010, MCA moved its graduate programs to a huge, vacant building in South Main at the corner of Main and Butler. Five years later, school officials decided to leave the building and move its graduate program back to the Overton Park campus.

In doing so, the school bought and renovated several properties around the school for students housing, galleries, studios, and more. This process transformed the areas around Poplar, just south of the campus.

The announcement comes after Brooks Museum of Art leaders said they are looking to move the museum from its 101-year home in Overton Park, possibly to a site on the Memphis riverfront.

Also, city leaders are planning to move a vehicle maintenance facility from the southeast corner of the park that will free up 16 acres of park land.
[pullquote-2]Tina Sullivan, executive director of the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC), said her organization’s role will be to provide stability, continuity, stability, and careful planning.

“It’s going to be a challenging few years but this also presents a new opportunity for Memphians to come together and look at what we need in our historic, flagship, central public space,” Sullivan said. “We’re focusing on these opportunities and how we can minimize the pain of this loss and turn it into something that benefits us all for the next 100 years.

Here’s what Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland had to say about MCA’s move in a Tuesday moving tweet:

On today's @memphisart news: pic.twitter.com/HbX7x8532Q

— Mayor Jim Strickland (@MayorMemphis) October 24, 2017

Memphis College of Art to Close

This story will be updated throughout the day.