On September 15 the City of Berkeley Lake, with assistance from BLHA, "pulled the plug" and opened the siphons to continue lowering the lake level, already 10' lower than normal full pool of 974.6 elevation. The plan is to lower the lake an additional 63' to 912 elevation. This will be the first time since the dam's construction in 1950 that the bottom of the lake will be visible. This will present opportunities for the HOA and shoreline residents to accomplish activities not normally available with the lake at full pool, e.g. enhancing the lake environment for all wildlife, inspecting dock/building facilities and improving overall safety for our members and residents. (Please refer to the President's Message for approval process.)

City and BLHA representatives will be working together on projects, as the lake remains lowered over the next several months. As communicated, the City has released and received sealed bids to perform the work for the dam repair project per approved engineering documents. The other projects that are being managed and funded by Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association (BLHA) include the following:

• siltation removal
• fish habitat (structure) development
• fish restocking & management

As everyone should already be aware, we have passed some major milestones with the city's dam repair project since the last issue of Reflections. The bond referendum passed by a landslide, with about 80% of the votes in favor of financing the repairs over 30 years. BLHA sees this as a clear mandate to the city – not just to borrow the money – but also to repair the dam on the fastest timeline possible – as we believe they are attempting to do.

The City's recent Tax Equity Analysis has also been completed. I quote, "Funding the dam restoration through a general increase in millage rate is fair and equitable to all parties". Basically this study confirmed many of the points that BLHA has been making all along. Not only did they confirm that the current method of taxation and lot valuation is fair and equitable, but the method that they used also confirmed our predictions concerning the distasteful option of "draining the lake". That approach would have resulted in much higher taxes (18-20%) for the people in the outlying subdivisions as well as some very unhappy people around the lakebed. We believe that this study completely affirmed our position that repairing the dam, and financing those repairs with a 30-year bond, will result in the lowest possible tax increase for all Berkeley Lake City residents. You can read the complete study at the City's website.

These were important milestones, but we still have a few more hurdles, including a timely approval of the engineering plans by the Georgia Safe Dams (the state regulatory body). As we go to press, we hear that the staff at Georgia Safe Dams has forwarded their recommendations to their Director, Mr. Tom Woolsey, but we do not know what these recommendations are, nor do we know when he may approve the plan (with or without possible required changes). While BLHA is monitoring the progress closely, direct your questions about the dam project to the City Representatives.

At this point the project has missed the original July 11 date for the draining the lake. While we do not know the projected date for the drawdown, we feel certain that we can provide at least 30-days notice to our members for planning purposes and possible boat removal.