Bill Dance Signature Lake on Final Approach for Landing

The Hardeman County Bill Dance Signature Lake project has taken a giant step this week as the State of Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded a grant for $62,446.35 for the project. The county has contracted with Schnabel Engineering of Alpharetta, Georgia to perform a Water Balance Analysis to determine the viability of a reservoir at the Pleasant Runn site based on local environmental and hydrological factors.
Schnabel will obtain available stream discharge data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Gaging Station. The proposed reservoir will be evaluated based on correlations of historical stream flow measurements, required minimum releases, and estimates of evaporation from the proposed reservoir surface to determine the required inflow to maintain the proposed normal pool elevation of the reservoir. The county also contracted with Lord and Winter, LLC of Nashville, Tennessee to propose Wetland Delineation, Stream Determination, and Jurisdictional Determination for the proposed 3,354-acre lake.
Hardeman County Environmental Attorney Laura Benz of Newman, Georgia was given the green light to move forward with the engineering studies after meeting with the Memphis District, US Corps of Engineers. These engineering studies are required to move forward with the permitting process. Professional sportsman Bill Dance reviewed the progress and stated, “I am ecstatic about the progress and thank Governor Lee, Commissioner Rolfe and Commissioner Ezell for the financial assistance and I agree with them that this lake will be a tremendous asset to the State of Tennessee. I appreciate the hard work and determination of Mayor Sain in driving this project to change the lives and economic future of not only Hardeman County, but all of West Tennessee.” Mayor Sain stated, “I would like to thank ECD Commissioner Rolfe and his staff for the grant. This has been a long tedious permitting process that we could not make a reality without our state partners. I believe we are on final approach to land this project for our citizens.”
The University of Memphis’ Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research has stated that the Hardeman County Like Project would be projected to generate approximately 401,053 visitors annually with visitor expenditures, and economic inputs that will generate a projected $22,940,232 annually. The bureau has stated that the project is one of the best economic projects they have researched.