BENTONVILLE -- Friends of Little Sugar Creek hope to address the City Council on Tuesday about why group members believe removing the Lake Bella Vista dam would be less expensive and more environmentally friendly than replacing it, group members said.
The group may or may not get the chance to speak, as there isn't an item regarding the dam on the agenda. City ordinance permits limited public forum, meaning public comments are restricted to topics on each agenda. Council members would have to vote to permit the group to speak.
The group advocates for the 100-year-old dam to be removed and for Little Sugar Creek to be restored to its natural-flowing state, having said in written promotional materials that it would "re-create a living, flowing Ozark waterway; eliminate the unsightly and harmful algae blooms which de-oxygenate water and kill aquatic animals and plants; and provide new opportunities for family recreation along the creek."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will give the city $2.7 million to help replace the ailing dam. The project is estimated to cost $3.5 million, according to a 2008 environmental assessment.
The city also will seek money from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management and will pay for a portion of the project, said Mayor Bob McCaslin.
The city has sought federal money to repair the dam since 2008, when it was flooded. The Association of State Dam Safety Officials said the dam "failed" in March 2008, citing "hydrologic deficiencies (and) faulty materials" as the cause.
A storm in 2011 also sent water over the dam's top and caused erosion on its back side. Experts discovered there wasn't a clay core as there should be in an earthen dam, said Ben Peters, city engineer.
"That's really the reason why it can't be repaired," he said. "There's no bones to this structure to fix."
Replacement is the only repair that can be done, he said.
Friends of Little Sugar Creek have discussed the cost of dam removal and creek restoration with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Passage Program coordinator and the Watershed Conservation Resource Center, a stream-restoration company. Preliminary estimates for both parts of the project are between $680,000 and $990,000.
The group suggests the dam removal and stream restoration be treated as two separate projects, if possible, so more money avenues could be sought, according to a letter from Ken Leonard, a member of Friends of Little Sugar Creek, to Alan Hermely, environmental specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The letter is dated March 15.
Leonard said in the letter that the estimates are "ballpark."
"Just as Bentonville is relying on grant money from FEMA and another state agency to pay for dam replacement, many potential sources exist to pay for dam removal and stream restoration," Leonard wrote.
Leonard said in the letter that money could come from the Fish Passage Program, Watershed Conservation Resource Center, Southern Aquatic Resource Partnership and said there could be others.
"The point is that funds are available to follow this alternative if Bentonville chose to do so, and expertise is available to find and acquire those funds," he wrote. "We would offer our services in any way that could help, also."
"In theory, there may be money out there to do anything," McCaslin said. "In theory, but that's not what we're operating on."
The dam, which created Lake Bella Vista, also has negative environmental effects, Friends of Little Sugar Creek have said.
The watershed surrounding the lake is too small, creating environmental challenges, Darrell Bowman, an aquatic biologist, told council members at their Oct. 13 meeting.
Information provided by the group indicates the 22-acre lake has a 56,109-acre watershed and can't handle the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus flowing from the watershed into the lake, which causes blue-green algae to grow.
Algae appears during low-water flow times, often in summer, Peters said.
"The algae exists but has not decreased the oxygen levels in the lake to the point of killing any fish," he said, adding there's algae in Little Sugar Creek, too. It's a different type of algae and sticks to the rocks on the bottom of the creek, while the type of algae growing in the lake floats.
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has never listed Little Sugar Creek or Lake Bella Vista as being impaired, Peters said.
Lake Bella Vista formed after the dam was built in 1915. Bentonville annexed the 132-acre property that includes the lake and surrounding trails in October 2005. The Parks and Recreation Department oversees the property.
The lake is a Parks and Recreation amenity the city intends to maintain, McCaslin said.
"We have no plans or intentions of restarting another initiative that would require all of the agencies that have been involved in this initiative to re-enter for the purpose of removing the dam," he said.
Friends of Little Sugar Creek have a right to have a different position on the issue, but "we don't agree with it," McCaslin said.
This will be the second time the group has approached the council with concerns about the city replacing the damaged dam.
Friends of Little Sugar Creek attended the Oct. 13 meeting. There was no item on the agenda regarding the dam project, but council members voted to allow three group members to speak.
A design contract will be the next item that comes before the council regarding the dam project. Peters said he isn't sure when it will be placed on the agenda.
Metro on 11/09/2015