LOW restates dam objections

LOW officials urges state board to reconsider dam ruling

Date published: 11/20/2009

BY ROBIN KNEPPER

RICHMOND--Pushed by irate members, the Lake of the Woods Association again yesterday asked the state Soil and Water Conservation Board to relieve it of having to comply with dam-safety regulations.

The Orange County homeowners' association finally agreed in January to abide by the eight-year old ruling of the board and build an auxiliary spillway on the dam of its largest lake.

Nevertheless, at the conservation board's meeting in Richmond yesterday, President Bruce Kay became the latest in a long line of LOW officials to ask the board to accept other actions by the community, such as increased monitoring, to make the dam safe.

Board Chairwoman Linda Campbell said it was not appropriate for the board to take action on Kay's plea before it was reviewed by the staff of the Division of Dam Safety. Division Director William Browning told the board that as long as there were homes and businesses in the dam's inundation zone, there would be no basis to lower the classification.

According to state regulations, a dam receives the state's highest hazard rating if its failure would probably cause people to die. That rating requires the LOW dam's spillway to be capable of discharging water from 37 inches of rain in 24 hours.

"There's nothing here that's any different," Browning told the board when asked about Kay's presentation, "but we will look at it."

After LOW agreed to build the new spillway, the state promised the homeowners' association $1 million to help pay for the work. LOW secured a $5 million line of credit to draw against as construction proceeded and a local contractor was hired to do the work.

But loud and angry protests erupted after the LOW board voted Oct. 3 to levy a $1,200-per-lot assessment on the 4,257 lot owners to pay for the $6 million spillway project. The assessment bills are due Dec. 1, but directors agreed Nov. 7 to allow payments to be spread over two years.

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Date published: 11/20/2009