Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the mothballed TVA “World's Largest Nuclear Plant” near Hartsville, legislation creating the Four Lakes Authority was passed in 1986, four years after TVA abandoned its ambitious plans in Trousdale County.
Walker has led the Four Lakes Authority since day-one, coordinating efforts to locate and “incubate” businesses on the 554 acres of Cumberland Riverfront land purchased from TVA twenty-two years ago.
“We spent $1.7-million to purchase the property, and we've added $2-million in utility construction over the years,” said Walker in an interview in mid-July.
He is retiring for reasons of health, and certainly not for lack of interest or enthusiasm for the mission of economic development in the five-county region that includes Macon County.
Walker leaves his job with a sense of accomplishment, fresh from the success of bringing a 108-acre, 2,040 bed private Corrections Corporation of America prison to the Four Lakes Power-Com site. Contractors are prefabricating cell blocks onsite, as tons of rock are moved and level construction areas continue to be prepared for the large facility.
The CCA medium security prison will employ a minimum of 350 persons when it is completed in late 2009, and opened in early 2010. In the meantime, hundreds of construction workers will be employed in the 18-month construction phase.
Dick Walker's tenure with Four Lakes has not been without setbacks and some controversy. Eight years ago a Louisiana-based uranium enrichment service, LES, wished to locate on Four Lakes property. Two years of public protests and local objections defeated plans for the project. But other, smaller successes followed.
A 54,000 square foot speculative industrial building was completed earlier this year, and a number of small and mid-sized businesses have participated in, and many have “graduated” from Four Lakes' business “incubator” program, currently leasing 14 buildings totaling 166,430 square feet, housing eight businesses employing more than 100 persons.
The current tenants include North Central Recycling, a regional trash recycling entity which utilizes Trousdale County inmate labor, providing an economical and valuable service for the Four Lakes five-county region.
Several of the “incubator' graduates have located in Macon County, including Volunteer Adhesives in Lafayette, and Cowan and Sons cabinet shop, making high-end cabinetry for the residential market and employing 17 persons. Volunteer Adhesives is a producer of special-order adhesives and employs twenty people.
Retiring after twenty-five years dedicated to community economic and industrial development, Richard “Dick” Walker will continue to live in Castalian Springs with his wife Mary Tom Walker, who is Macon County's school psychologist and a native of Lafayette.
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