The Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] Board of Directors is seeking Member Input into its pending decision on permanent closure of Longleaf Drive over Lake Auman dam -- a decision on which the Board is expected to vote during its Tuesday, October 26 Work Session.
Director Mick Herdrich told The Times the Board of Directors had considered sending out its request for input during an Executive Session that concluded their September 28 Work Session. Eight Board members present at a special meeting on Tuesday, October 5 unanimously approved the mailing to the membership, he explained.
Meanwhile, a group of landowners is seeking to call a special meeting of the membership to vote on whether the road should be reopened. [See story here.]
The Board's mailing, which includes a tear-off form for member input and a postage-paid return envelope, asks Westside landowners to choose one of two options:
I support the Board's recommendation to close the Dam given the recommendation of its Dam Engineer and the suggestion of the State that we follow that recommendation, or
I do not support the Board's recommendation and want the road over the dam reopened, regardless of the potential risk, liability, or cost to myself or the community.
The three page letter [download a copy here] includes background on the history of the dam remediation, presents the rationale for the Dam Committee's recommendation that the road be closed permanently, and includes answers to some frequently asked questions.
The Board writes that Dam Engineer Dr. Dan Marks "recommended to the state that the road remain closed to vehicular traffic "regardless of any plans to design and/or construct any type of high strength roadway pavement."
The letter says that a second engineering opinion is not being sought because a legal opinion from the Association's attorney indicates that disregarding Marks' advice -- and the recommendation of the Dam Committee -- could, if the road were reopened and the dam subsequently failed "put the Association in the unenviable position of having to prove in Court that any future problems with the dam were not caused, in whole or in part, by the decision to allow resumption of traffic over the area of the dam where the latent defects in the core were discovered."
The Board's letter suggests that the impact of the Longleaf Drive road closure on Westside property values is difficult to determine but suggests that an analysis by a "Westside resident" indicates "that home sale prices have been consistent throughout the community, selling for approximately 70% of assessed value during this downturn." The unnamed resident has been identified in previous Board comments as former Infrastructure Director Ray MacKay.
The Board suggests that the closure of the roadway atop the dam has added at most five and one half minutes to the travel time of Pinehurst-bound westsiders and estimates the cost of repairing the roadway, which was rendered unusable during last year's remediation to be $1.2 million, which could result in a $700 per lot special assessment or "significantly higher annual dues for the foreseeable future."
Members are being asked to mark their preference on the input form and return it to the SLWLA office no later than Friday, October 22.
The input form asks that respondents provide their name and lot number. The letter indicates that results will be tabulated by CAS, Inc. and that the responses of individuals will remain confidential, with only the final tally being forwarded to the Board. The letter does not indicate whether that tally will be made public, but Legal Director Ed Silberhorn tol The Times he expected the Board would make the results public.
