LOWER GIRARD LAKE Project plans for dam set

Ohio's senators are seeking federal funds for the dam.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed two schedules to make the Lower Girard Lake dam safe.
By providing the schedule, the city meets a Monday deadline issued by the Ohio Attorney General's office to come up with the timetable or face a lawsuit.
Mayor James J. Melfi said Monday that the corps' commitment is contained in a letter from Kathleen J. Anderson, a corps project manager.
According to the schedule, lowering the height of the dam or breaching it would be completed by the end of November 2006.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources had directed the city to schedule a remedy to the long-running safety problem by March 15.
Council asked that the deadline be extended to Dec. 31. In response, the attorney general's office, which represents the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, set the Monday deadline for the dam's repair or breaching.
The options
If 12.5 feet of the top of the concrete dam is removed, the plan calls for awarding contracts by the end of September, with construction to begin in October of this year and be completed by the end of November 2006.
If the dam is demolished, contracts would be awarded by the end of June, and the structure would be razed beginning in July of this year with completion in November 2006.
It could take longer to demolish the dam than to lower the top because the sediment left behind would have to dry before equipment can work on it, corps officials say.
In her letter, Anderson pointed out that there is a high level of congressional interest in obtaining funds to make the dam safe as quickly as possible.
Ohio's two U.S. senators, Republicans George V. Voinovich and Michael DeWine, asked that $8 million in federal funds be earmarked for the dam project.
Congress had allotted $1.14 million in federal funds for the dam, but the funds were lost when no action was taken by the city to repair the structure.
yovich@vindy.com