No more dam road.
That will be the verdict if the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] Board of Directors ratifies in two weeks a 6-to-2 decision to permanently close Longleaf Drive over the Lake Auman dam.
The Board voted to accept the recommendation of its Dam Committee during its Tuesday, September 14, Work Session. Several directors, including Secretary Karen Milligan and Treasurer Joe Sikes, argued that the dam road closure should be deemed a matter of significant interest to the community, which would have triggered a 60-day public comment period before the decision was made final. But, when President Ron Shepard called for the question on his motion to permanently close the road, only Milligan and Sikes voted in the negative. [Director John Hoffmann was not present at the meeting.]
Paul Kirst presented the Dam Committee's recommendation, which, perhaps surprisingly, rested principally on concerns about the liability the community would face in the case of a dam failure. [Download a copy of the presentation and recommendations here. ]
SLWLA Dam Engineer Dr. Dan Marks, who designed the dam remediation completed in the Spring of 2009, has recommended against reopening the road, Kirst explained. In the Final Approval to Impound — the official North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources [NCDENR] document approving the repairs to the dam — state engineers stated: "Though we do not consider road closure a requirement for continued operation of this dam, you as the dam owner may wish to consider the design engineer's recommendation in this matter."
"We have a sword hanging over our head right here," Kirst said.
Should the road be opened and the high hazard dam fail, causing property damage and/or loss of life at the twenty-one homes that lie in the flood plain below, "whoever is going to sue us is going to say, 'You were put on notice.' We would be held liable and it would be so overpowering," Kirst said.
"I don't care to stay around here and hold the bag for something like that," he added.
Noting that the committee had explored the idea of pursuing a second opinion from another engineer, Kirst said, "We could likely find another engineer who would say it's okay to build the road. Marks said we could rebuild the road, given enough money."
"But that doesn't absolve us of the liability issue."
In addition to recommending the permanent closure of Longleaf over the dam, the dam committee plans to explore both an alternate route to carry traffic that would have traversed the dam and the possibility of opening a second back gate for those who live on the west side of the dam. A plan is already in the works to allow emergency vehicles to drive across the top of the dam.
The Committee's recommendation to close the road was initially unanimous, but committee member Bob Van Houten later changed his vote, feeling that a second opinion should be sought.
Other members of the committee include Kirst, Director Mick Herdrich, Bob Fewkes, Mary Anne Fewkes, and Director John Goodman.
Board Discussion
President Shepard's motion to accept the committee's recommendation and close the dam was seconded by Director Goodman, who said he could not in good conscience subject Westside property owners to the potential liability that would be incurred by allowing traffic over the dam. He estimated that the cost of a new road over the dam would exceed $1 million and said he could never agree to that.
Legal Director Ed Silberhorn said he was persuaded by Marks' arguments against reopening the dam and agreed that, no matter how well engineered a road was constructed across the weaker west side of the dam, nothing could erase the potential liability of a failure.
"The liability is never going to go away," Shepard agreed.
Resident Ralph McCormick asked whether the community didn't have the same liability in case of a failure, whether or not the road were reopened. Silberhorn replied that the Association has been proactive in maintaining the dam and had followed the advice of experts in repairing it, and so does not find itself at as great risk as would be posed by reopening the road against expert advice.
"The liability is too great to do anything other than what is absolutely the safest," another resident opined.
Jim Johnson, a resident and retired engineer, said he had discussed the case with the engineer in charge of dam safety for a major municipal water system, who had agreed to review the relevant data on the Lake Auman dam. He asked the Board to deem the dam road closure a "material matter," in order to allow time for public input on the decision.
Silberhorn, Sikes, and Director Adam Wimberly all argued in favor of the longer public input period.
"I have no problem declaring it a material matter, because it is," Silberhorn said.
Shepard and Goodman both resisted delay. "I can't imagine anything that would modify the facts that have been brought forward," Goodman said, noting the matter had already been before the public for more than 30 days.
Noting that Shepard's motion called for the permanent closure of the road, Silberhorn said, "You used the word 'permanent.' I would not like this matter to be raised again. I would like some finality; and I think the more procedurally correct we can make this, the better.”
"We have to make the decision, but I would also like to see it put to rest so that it doesn't become an on-going issue for future boards," he added.
Noting that the Board had invoked the "material matters" clause to gather public input on building a new mail house, Director Milligan said she found it "ironic that we wouldn't invoke the same procedure for something as major as the closing of the dam road."
Wimberly suggested, as a compromise, that the Board vote on Shepard's motion during subject to a ratification of that vote during the September 28 evening meeting, after taking input from the public.
The Board then voted six-to-two to accept the dam committee's recommendation, including the supporting Powerpoint presentation [which is available at sevenlakestimes.net] , and permanently close Longleaf Drive across Lake Auman dam, subject to a ratification vote on September 28.
For more on the Tuesday, September 14 SLWLA Work Session, see this article .
