Here's a roundup of reporting on TVA's adoption of stricter land use policies...

KNS: TVA puts lock on gate

Despite pleas to water down TVA's temporary ban on selling federal land for private residential development, the agency's board voted 8-1 Thursday to make the ban permanent.

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Williams, who chaired the committee that drafted the new policy, said 92 percent of the more than 5,000 people who submitted comments favored making the ban permanent.

KNS: Developers not happy with TVA land policy

"Obviously, I think the residential part of development along TVA lakes is a viable, important part of the local economy," said Mike Ross, owner of Rarity Communities. Ross' land swap in 2003 for formerly public land for his Rarity Pointe development in Loudon County helped galvanize opposition to TVA land transfers.

Maryville Daily Times: TVA bans sale of protected shoreline along river

"The people spoke, and TVA listened," [wildlife research associate and instructor at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Billy] Minser said. "This brand new board is a breath of fresh air."

The only board member voting against the new land policy was former board chairman Bill Baxter, who said the policy lacked flexibility for economic development projects.

Baxter served as the State of Tennessee's commissioner of Economic and Community Development for three years, from 1997 to 2000.

The Chattanoogan: TVA Votes to Protect Public Land

"Our committee worked through the comments from thousands of people and organizations to come up with a fair policy that protects public land while still allowing recreation and industrial development," said Director Williams, "The new policy reaffirms the usefulness and effectiveness of TVA's land planning process."

Associated Press: TVA: Limit Land Sales on Tennessee River

While the [high-end residential development] projects had supporters, the land deals behind them unleashed a storm of criticism from the environmental community and those who believed that land bought for public purposes generations ago should remain in public hands.

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Some, including U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., worry the ban is too restrictive and will have a "substantial adverse impact" on the region.

Here's a link to the new TVA land use policy.

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised that the new board is reining in the go-go Baxter era and listening to the people. What's next, accelerating pollution controls at their coal-fired power plants instead of looking for ways to get out of it? Somehow I don't think this is what Bush had in mind when he restructured the board and "modernized" TVA.

As for the land use policy, this will probably drive the price of existing lakefront property even higher, if that's even possible. I predict that TVA will revisit the residential restrictions in a few years after a sort of "cooling off" period. If done properly, lakefront community development could be an asset to the region. And by "done properly", we mean something other than gated golf course communities with multi-million dollar homes, although every community ought to have a few.