Deadline looms for city to form plan that would make dam safe

Breaching the dam could take 11/2 to two years, the state project manager says.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The state will order Lower Girard Lake dam to be breached if the city doesn't meet a Sept. 30 deadline to come up with a plan to make it safe.
"The state will do the work and bill the city," said Peter George, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources project manager assigned to the dam.
Mayor James J. Melfi has received a letter from ODNR that gives the city until Sept. 30 to show specific time frames for financial arrangements to breach or repair the structure and an engineering design and construction timetable.
Whichever method is used, the project must be done before May 2006.
The deadline was issued by ODNR after it performed a July 28 inspection of the 1920-vintage structure. It found the dam was within inches of failing during recent storms.
George said if the city fails to meet the Sept. 30 deadline, Richard S. Bartz, head of ODNR's Division of Water, will issue what is termed a "chief's order."
If the city can't show that it's making arrangements for financing, design and construction, the dam will be breached, George said.
The project manager noted that ODNR will work with the city if it can be shown that some progress is being made toward making the structure safe.
What's expected
George said ODNR will take the "cheapest route" in making it safe -- breaching, or partial removal of portions of the dam.
It has been estimated that it will cost $980,000 to breach the structure and $10 million to $12 million to rebuild it.
The city has $1.14 million in federal funds for dam work and $575,000 from ODNR to maintain the upper and lower lakes.
George said the Army Corps of Engineers has told him breaching could take 11/2 to two years.
The water would be lowered and concrete panels, or bays, removed from the top of the structure to stabilize it.
The wet sediment left behind must dry, George explained, and then be tested for contamination, such as metals.
It's then determined if the soil must be removed to a landfill or if grass can be planted to stabilize the soil.
'Too small'
Melfi said it's city council's responsibility to meet ODNR's schedule. He has recommended that a portion of the $1.14 million be used to breach the dam.
"The city is too small to own a dam," Melfi said, noting up to 25 percent of residents' water bills are going toward paying for the purchase of the lakes.
ODNR has also held the city in violation of state dam safety laws. It wants the level of the upper and lower lakes lowered and lake level and rain gauges installed.
Melfi said Wednesday the lakes have been lowered, but heavy rainfall in the flood plain has continually refilled them.
He said the gauges will be installed using money out of the $575,000 earmarked to maintain the lakes.
yovich@vindy.com