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.
That furor was accompanied by the continuing protest of residents Ralph Hollm and Bill Nowers, who have collected the signatures of hundreds of residents on petitions asking the conservation board to back off its hazard classification of the dam and urging the governor's office to intervene. They have claimed that adding a second spillway to the 40-year-old earthen dam could compromise its safety.
A third avenue of protest opened after Bob McDonnell was elected governor. Supporters of the Republican have vowed to lobby him to overrule or replace the conservation board after he takes office in January.
LOW has been fighting the state over compliance with the regulations for eight years, spending an estimated $2 million for lawyers, lobbyists, engineers and consultants, as well as for studies of the impact of a dam failure on homes, residents businesses and roads.
According to a presentation made at the LOW board meeting on Wednesday, at which residents questioned the contractor and project managers, the spillway construction project is on schedule and is expected to be completed in August or September of next year.
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net