Buckeye Lake meeting draws a crowd

BUCKEYE LAKE - Ray Bauman lives on the east end of Buckeye Lake. In June, he mowed the vegetation growing in the lake bed up to 10 feet from the shore, where the lake is normally two feet deep.

If you visited his property, you would barely be able to tell the difference today.

Bauman was one of nearly 100 people who attended a special meeting designed to give residents living on Buckeye Lake's east end more information about the Buckeye Lake dam project.

Organized by Honey Creek Homeowners Association Chairman Pete Myer, the meeting was led by Ian Nickey, who serves as the spokesman for the contractors working on the project.

"Tonight, we're looking from real feedback from everyone here," Nickey said when he opened the meeting. "We recognize that the east end of the lake has been affected differently from the dam side.

"Tonight is going to be more about clarity over agreement. We're just letting you know the who, where and why of the project."

With the help of Gannett Fleming Project Manager/Senior Planner Bryan Newell, Nickey detailed the dam project's progress so far and outlined the timeline for phase two.

Construction crews will begin removing anything such as flag poles, decks and patios, from state property along the dam project through this fall and winter. Construction of a supporting buttress to the 40-foot deep cutoff wall installed in phase one will begin in the spring of 2017. The entire project is set to be completed sometime in 2019.

"We've spent the last six months gathering design parameters for the dam before we moved forward," Newell said. "The state's primary concern is the safety of the dam."

One note of the meeting was the level of the lake, both during and after the project. The lake would be allowed to fill up to one foot below the old summer pool while the project is being completed. Afterwards, the state would allow the lake to rise up to seven inches below the crest of the lake's spillways.

"The (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) has decided that Buckeye Lake will be managed like the other lakes in the state to help regulate the pressure on the dam," Newell said.

Several residents raised concerns about dredging at the east end of the lake, including inlets and harbors. However, ODNR handles all dredging on Buckeye Lake. Nickey and Newell said could only relay those concerns to the state agency.

Judy Minister, who lives in Heron Bay, said she has no water in front of her house and was confused why dredging couldn't be covered by the project's budget. Newell explained to the audience that maintenance for state parks comes from a different fund and the project's funds couldn't be used because they had been assigned specifically to the project.

"The only reason we have all this vegetation now is because the water had to be low for the construction," she said. "I haven't heard any solutions from the state on what we can do about the weeds there."

Personally, Bauman didn't think the meeting was going to help the east enders that much.

"My neighbor posed the same questions about a month ago and we haven't heard anything back yet," he said.

blawlis@gannett.com

740-328-8822

Twitter: @BarrettLawlis