<P> Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the area around Smith Mountain Lake remained rural and remote with tobacco farms and other agriculture . Marinas provided the bulk of public access in the early years of the lake . The limited early residential developments around the lake consisted largely of small trailer parks and modest houses . However, residential growth has been steady since the mid-1980s and increasingly upscale with large lakefront houses, condominiums, and communities centered on golf courses . The lake has attracted many who commute to Roanoke and Lynchburg and many retirees, many of whom have relocated from the Northeast . By the late 1990s, the number and affluence of the new residents resulted in the construction of new retail and commercial developments near the lake . Recent shoreline development has been limited to residential construction . With the enactment of Federal oversight of shoreline development in 1998 coupled with soaring real estate values, there is an escalating loss of public access to the lake as the lake's marinas are sold for residential development . </P> <P> State Route 122 is the only primary highway that crosses the lake, though State Route 24, State Route 116, and State Route 40 are nearby . </P> <P> American Electric Power (AEP) is licensed to operate the Smith Mountain Project by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The initial license term was for fifty years . In 1998, AEP began the process of relicensing . Under the requirements of relicensing, AEP was required to perform numerous studies to determine management requirements during the upcoming license term . In December, 2009 the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Appalachian Power a new license to operate the hydro - electricity plant . The new 30 - year license replaces the original 50 - year license and addresses recreational and environmental management . </P> <P> In 1998, the FERC required AEP to devise and implement a shoreline management plan . The Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) limits the development of all property within the "project boundary ." Local zoning regulations have been effectively superseded by the SMP regulations . AEP acts as the permitting agency . Any variance requests are reviewed by interested State and Federal agencies such as Virginia Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries . Disagreements must first proceed to the FERC, then be appealed through the Federal Judicial System . </P>

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