BUCKEYE LAKE

Buckeye Lake businesses seek loans not regularly given

Anna Bisaro
abisaro@gannett.com

BUCKEYE LAKE – If Buckeye Lake is declared in a state of economic disaster by the Small Business Administration, it wouldn't be the first time the national agency has given out small business loans for an area affected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommendation to lower lake levels.

Docks and homes line the dam on the north bank of Buckeye Lake along North Bank Road.

A look through the current regions of the United States declared to be in a state of economic disaster by the SBA shows that most of those areas declared in economic injury disaster were affected by natural disasters and major storms.

Matthew Young, a public relations officer at the SBA Field Operations Center East in Atlanta, said he could not say for sure if the Buckeye Lake region would qualify as an area in economic disaster without first seeing the application from Gov. John Kasich.

But lowered water levels at a lake "would be a reason that we would consider a request," Young said.

Though the instances are few, Young found another instance in which economic disaster status was declared for a region that did not suffer from a natural disaster.

In June 2007, the SBA stated that Kentucky was in need of economic injury disaster loans because of "below average water levels."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lowered the levels of Lake Cumberland by 40 feet — leaving the lake at a depth of about 100 feet — in the spring of 2007 to repair the lake's dam. The lake levels remained low until 2014.

"We thought, originally, it would be a three-year project, but it lingered and lingered," said Carolyn Mounce, executive director of the Sommerset Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Visitation at the lake dropped, and some businesses and marinas suffered or even closed, Mounce said. The average number of visitors on the lake before the water level draw-down was more than 4 million, she said.

Wolf Creek Dam on Lake Cumberland is 240 feet high and has a concrete core that is surrounded by earthen materials. The dam was built in the 1950s and is almost 1 mile long, according to The Courier-Journal.

Included in the SBA-declared economic injury disaster area were six primary counties around Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, nine adjacent counties in Kentucky, and five more counties in Tennessee.

Small businesses were able to apply for loans up to $1.5 million at a 4 percent interest rate.

The Ohio Development Services Agency received worksheets from 14 Buckeye Lake area businesses on Friday.

The agency will be putting together a packet for Gov. John Kasich so he can make a formal request to the SBA for economic injury disaster status for the Buckeye Lake region.

With that status, Buckeye Lake area businesses are seeking loans of up to $2 million with 4 percent interest.

"This has been a total economic disaster," Robert L. Dillow Jr. wrote on a worksheet for Buckeye Lake Barge.

Dillow wrote that, with the low water levels, his barge cannot operate on 90 percent of the lake.

In order to qualify for economic injury disaster status, at least five businesses in the region had to show a 50 percent or greater loss since April 20, the date the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had closed Seller's Point Spillway on Buckeye Lake and said the lake was at winter pool levels.

The 14 businesses that turned in worksheets span Licking, Fairfield and Perry counties. The businesses are the Buckeye Lake Winery, Fisher's Marina, The Copper Penny, Sailor Joe's, Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society, Alexander's Landing Marina, Buckeye Lake Barge, Brighton's Boat Taxi, Millersport Deli and Bait Store, North Pole Frozen Treats, the Olde Canal Restaurant, Robaco boat storage, and Z's Village Market.

Both Alexander's Landing Marina and Fisher's Marina reported 100 percent loss in revenue from dock rentals, very few gasoline sales and inventories more full than normal at this point in the year.

A couple of businesses reported that they will not be able to stay open through the winter due to loss of sales this summer.

"These are not to replace lost income," Young said of the loans offered by SBA to small businesses in economic disaster areas. "Even though they've had a reduction of income or revenue, our loan would help them to be able to make their monthly payments."

abisaro@gannett.com

740-328-8822

Twitter: @abisaro_NEW

Inside

Kentucky lake has quick bounce back after years of lowered water. See story on 3A.