FLOODING ISSUES: Lake Conway problems addressed

CONWAY — Finding $900,000 for a road that would give Rodgers Estates residents a way out of their subdivision during high floodwaters - that's step No. 1 in solving the short- and long-term problems that plague Lake Conway, District 42 Rep. Jane English said.

Step No. 2 is conducting a watershed study for the lake and its tributaries, which English said is estimated at $400,000 and could take a few years. The study would consider ongoing problems ranging from flooding to sedimentation to excessive vegetation. It would expand beyond the lake itself, taking into account the effects of the growing communities of Conway, Vilonia and Mayflower, whose extra buildings and concrete have changed the way water flows into the 58-year-old lake.

These goals came out of the first two meetings of the Lake Conway Watershed Advocacy Group, a collection of citizens' groups and governmental bodies spearheaded by English. The group met in July and September. Its next meeting is 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Natural Resource Center on Amity Road in Conway. It is open to the public.

Participants in the first meetings included the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which owns and manages Lake Conway; state Sen. Gilbert Baker; Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Theresa Marks; Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department Director Dan Flowers; Metroplan's Jim McKenzie; Faulkner County Judge Preston Scroggin; Arkansas Natural Resource Commission representative Earl Smith; the mayors of Conway, Mayflower and Vilonia; and representatives from the Arkansas Department of Health; the Faulkner County Public Facilities Board; the Lake Conway Home Owners Association; and Rodgers Estates.

The issues the group hopes to address are longstanding, but this year's record-breaking rains have magnified the key problem, flooding, shortening the tempers of flooded homeowners along the lake and the landlocked residents of Rodgers Estates. English said she started getting phone calls in Mayfrom concerned constituents watching the flood waters rise.

The nonprofit group Lake Conway Home Owners Association incorporated in June. A resident-led group, its goals are to aggregate the concerns of Lake Conway area residents (anyone within the 100-year flood plain, including businesses) and foster communication between homeowners and government. English attended one of the association's early meetings and continues to consult the group in her efforts. The Home Owners Association held its last meeting Sept. 24, and the next has yet to be scheduled.

English, a Republican, is retired, lives in North Little Rock and is in her first term with the House. District 42 covers Faulkner County and parts of Pulaski County.

She said that although the Game and Fish Commission owns and manages the lake and is the target of many lakeside homeowners' wrath, Lake Conway's problems are more complicated than that. Solving the issue of Rodgers Estates alone, for example, is complicated by the fact that the houses are in Pulaski County, while the flooded road is in Faulkner County; the Game and Fish Commission controls the water flow, while the Highway Department will need to build the road, etc.

English said she started her group to foster cooperation.

"Sometimes, pointing fingers is the right thing to do, but not in this case," English said. "You're never going to get one state agency that can solve everything and has the money to do so. ... These are issues that one group can't do by themselves."

Rodgers Estates residents currently access Interstate 40 during high water by an illegal dirt on ramp that emerges from a ditch and steep embankment on the northbound side of the interstate between Maumelle and Mayflower. The 20 families who live in Rodgers Estates used to have two access roads to their community, but one leads through Camp Robinson and has been closed to civilians since 9-11.

"What's going to happen is one of these days - and it's probably going to be a car with a family, full of kids - they're going to be using that gravel on-ramp to get on I-40 and an 18-wheeler is going to hit them," English said. "And that's just not right. It won't be the 18-wheeler's fault either. This is a long-standing problem. It's one we know about and need to do something about."

The other, Grassy Lake Road, crosses Palarm Creek and runs south of the Bell Slough Wildlife Management Area, which is owned and managed by the Game and Fish. The Commission intentionally floods Bell Slough in the fall to serve as a waterfowl rest area and to lower Lake Conway in anticipation for the winter rains to prevent flooding for the residents along Lake Conway.

Unintentional flooding of Grassy Lake Road not associated with the Game and Fish's waterfowl habitat plan occurs in times of excess rainfall. District 10 Lake Manager Matt Horton, whose responsibilities include Lake Conway, and former Chief of Fisheries Mike Armstrong, who has been promoted to a position that doesn't directly cover the lake, tried to explain the Game and Fish's predicament at the Home Owners Association's Sept. 24 meeting.

Horton, who monitors the weather and opens the spillways that release water from Lake Conway into Palarm Creek, said he cannot open more than five gates at once without the risk of flooding Grassy Lake Road. In times of heavy rainfall, that leaves him with the tough choice of risking floods along the lake shoreline or flooding Grassy Lake Road.

"Ninety percent of the time, we can do it (keep from flooding either) fairly well," Armstrong said. "2009 is an exception. ... We did not buy enough land (when the lake was built in 1951) to prevent a flood event with a 100-year flood (the Game and Fish owns roughly 20 feet along the shoreline)."

Armstrong said building a road for the Rodgers Estate residents would remove the Game and Fish from its predicament.

"We're trying to get out of that box, you don't like being in it, and if you live out in Rodgers Estates, they don't like it either," Armstrong said. "It's just a matter of money before we can fix this. It's a bad situation, and we want out of it as much as you do."

Residents at the Sept. 24 meeting remained skeptical, however. The Game and Fish's lake management rules cite a specific water level that the lake has to reach before the spillways can be opened (2 feet over normal pool). Several residents brought up the rule, which they consider bureaucratic red tape that threatens their property.

However, the association's president, Hayden Baldwin, said Horton has been good about disregarding the rule and opening the gates early when heavy rains are forecast. Homeowners should try starting anew with Horton, who has held the position for two years and has been more receptive to their input than previous lake managers, Baldwin said.

"Despite what I think and what some of you think, Game and Fish might not be our enemy," Baldwin said, adding that the association will still hold them responsible to the public. "We're not taking things personally. I'm not picking on Matt. I'm not picking on Mike. But if you're asking them a question, they need to answer it, because chances are someone else has the same question. That's what we're trying to do."

Skepticism wasn't limited to the Game and Fish, however. As Rodgers Estate resident Shari Campbell addressed the group, she was shouted down by Lake Conway shoreline residents with comments like, "they're picking you over us," and sat down without finishing her speech.

Other comments during the meeting suggested the Game and Fish inconveniences Lake Conway shoreline residents to appease duck hunters - a notion Horton denied.

Many asked for a new spillway that would automatically release water from the lake. Others said the lake needs to be dredged. Horton said both would cost millions, but are being studied.

Baldwin said the duck-hunter theory is a good example of the communication his group hopes to foster. It's a rumor that gets passed around a lot, but has no validity, he said, and the association would like to put better information in residents' hands. The association has started a Web site, www.lc-hoa.org, where it compiles studies and other information about the lake.

But he said the young group still needs help from residents. More officers are needed, as well as several of the 12 zone leaders who would facilitate communication on a neighborhood-by neighborhood basis.

Baldwin said he's been "really amazed" with the progress of English's Lake Conway Watershed Advocacy Group, adding that the Home Owners Association still has a role to play.

"As an association, we want to have your input so we can speak with one voice to the Game and Fish [and groups like English's]," Baldwin said.

English admits that many Lake Conway area residents have been dealing with flooding and other problems for many years and could easily become frustrated with the Lake Conway Watershed Advocacy Group if visible results take too long to materialize. She hopes a solution for Rodgers Estates and subsequently lakeside flooding will come quickly so that residents will stay on board and cooperation will continue.

"None of this is going to happen overnight," English said.

- awidner@arkansasonline.com

River Valley Ozark, Pages 67, 68 on 10/01/2009