State could make lakefront residents pay for costly dams

Looking for a home in Lawrenceville? Mark Hall has one to sell you, complete with an emerald-green lake, tree-lined streets — and an eight-year battle with the state.

Hall, 43, doesn’t expect to reap a windfall for his Lakeview Plantation property. But he said the value will drop if he doesn’t sell — and if the state follows through with what he believes are plans to drain the lake to repair a dam that confines its tranquil waters.

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Jason Getz/jgetz@ajc.com

Mark Hall of Lawrenceville says he fears the state will drain this lake to fix the dam behind it, hurting property values. The state says the dam is unsafe and homeowners have neglected their responsibility to take action.\uFEFF

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Vino Wong/vwong@ajc.com

The state says the dam forming the lake in Lakeview Plantation in Gwinnett County has seepage and stability issues and its repair is the responsibility of homeowners.

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Vino Wong/vwong@ajc.com

There are 174 homes in Lakeview Plantation, and the 4 1/2-acre lake sits in the heart of the subdivision. Houses downstream of the dam are at most risk if it is breached.

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“We are scared that [draining] the lake will bring down home values,” Hall said. “It’s tough to have a home in Lakeview Plantation without a lake.”

To make matters worse, homeowners say, they could be stuck with a repair bill upward of a quarter-million dollars.

There are 174 homes in Lakeview Plantation, and the 41/2-acre lake sits in the heart of this tidy middle-class subdivision. The lake also sits at the heart of the battle pitting the homeowners association against the state.

The dispute centers on a dam at the east side of the lake. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources maintains that the 475-foot-long, 27-foot-high dam has seepage and stability issues, and that someone could be killed if it were to fail.

The state classifies such high-hazard dams as Category 1 under the Safe Dams Act. In this case, the residents at a home downstream of the dam are at most risk if it is breached.

In documents sent to the homeowners association in late July, the state said homeowners are in violation of the Safe Dams Act and must hire an engineer to assess and make repairs to the dam.

Specifically, the state cited a leaky 36-inch spillway pipe, which controls the release of the principal flow of water through the lake; a lack of a drainage system for the lake; and steepness of the dam’s slope, which affects its stability.

In the document, the state said it intended to seek court action if the association didn’t sign a consent order agreeing to get the dam fixed.

The homeowners’ side

Homeowners association president Michelle Roetto said hiring an engineer and making repairs would cost $150,000 to $225,000, money the HOA doesn’t have. Residents have not signed the consent order.

The HOA, which isn’t mandatory for residents to join, operates on a $14,000 annual budget. Those funds barely maintain the pool, common-area landscaping and two tennis courts, among other things, Roetto said.

The state wants homeowners to drain the lake, Roetto said. But that can’t be done right away because years ago, residents filled the release valve with concrete to keep it from draining.

“We’d love to have the lake fixed, but it boils down to an issue of money,” she said.

For residents, it also boils down to the effect on wildlife in or around the lake, from fish and geese to raccoons and deer.

“It would be one big mess if we drained it, and then there’s the smell of dead fish,” Roetto said.

The HOA has asked the state for help, Roetto said. “According to them, it’s our problem.”

If the issue winds up in court and the HOA loses, the state could put liens against residents’ homes, drain the lake and seize the association’s assets, Roetto said.

“It sounds like a no-win situation for us,” she said.

The state’s side

Tom Woosley, a manager with the Safe Dams Program within the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, sees things a bit differently.

He said the state has met with homeowners several times and has tried to work with them. “They don’t seem to want to respond,” he said. “We’ve ultimately got to do something.”

He said residents have addressed a number of concerns but that “the one big void is the spillway pipe. It’s in bad shape and has leaks in it and needs to be replaced.”

As for the six-figure repair cost, Woosley said any estimate is hard to come by without an engineer inspecting the dam. Until it’s evaluated, “I’d be pretty hesitant to throw out a guess [on its cost]. It would be a pretty wild guess,” he said.

An engineer last inspected the dam in September 2003.

Woosley likened the situation to taking a defective car to a mechanic and asking if repairs would cost less than $300 before letting the mechanic evaluate the car.

As for lowering the lake, Woosley said it’s possible but “hard to say” if that needs to happen. Although the consent order requires homeowners to partially lower the lake, the nature of the repairs would determine how much, if any, the lake needed to be drained, Woosley said. The mandate was included to get homeowners’ attention and protect the residents downstream, he added.

If homeowners don’t sign the agreement, the state will seek “additional enforcement action,” he said. But that does not include putting liens on the property.

“We’re not going to just come in and take over,” he said. “That’s been one of the misconceptions I’ve dealt with.”

Responsibility for the dam, he said, ultimately rests with homeowners.

Lynn Smarr, acting director for the Gwinnett Department of Water Resources, said homeowners contacted the county about two weeks ago asking for help.

She said officials have offered to meet with residents, but she doesn’t know if the county will weigh in on a dispute she sees as between homeowners and the state.

Smarr agreed with the state’s position that homeowners are responsible for paying for the dam’s repairs.

Mark Hall, who’s about 60 days from putting his house on the market, said the original owner of the subdivision property was a farmer who built the dam years ago to create a lake for his livestock. Once the property was sold to developers in the 1990s, the dam was not brought up to standard, he said.

The state got involved in 2000, when it received a call that the lake was draining.

Hall, an HOA member, said he doesn’t believe homeowners should shoulder the cost for repairs, as the lake and dam were there before the subdivision.

Recently, the HOA hired an attorney to review the options, he said.

“This is what we’re fighting for,” Hall said. “The kids play there … it would be very sad to see that gone and turned into a mosquito-infested swamp.”

ALL ABOUT DAMS

The Georgia Safe Dams Act of 1978

The Georgia Safe Dams Act provides for the inspection and permitting of certain dams to protect the health, safety and welfare of Georgia residents. The Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is responsible for inspecting and permitting high-hazard dams.

Classifications

• Category I: A dam in which failure could cause loss of human life.

• Category II: A dam in which failure would be unlikely to cause death.

Gwinnett breakdown

• Number of dams in the county: 81

• Number of those dams classified as Category 1 or high hazard: 23

• Height of the highest dam in the county: 85 feet

The purpose

Dams are built for different purposes and often serve more than one.

They include:

• Recreation

• Power generation

• Flood control

• Water supply

• Irrigation

• Fire protection

Who can own a dam?

Any individual can own a dam. In fact, about 60 percent of the dams regulated by the Safe Dams Program are privately owned. Whatever entity owns the property is considered the owner of the dam, according to the Safe Dams Program.

Source: Safe Dams Program, Georgia Department of Natural Resources