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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 • Volume 41 – No. 6 ©2020, THE JOURNAL-HERALD. All Rights Reserved
CONTINUING: THE WHITE HAVEN JOURNAL ESTABLISHED 1879–141st YEAR, NO. 41
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Penn Lake dam future under discussion
PENN LAKE PARK RESIDENTS came out in force for an outdoor meeting to discuss the future of the dam last Thursday. JH: Seth Isenberg by Seth Isenberg Penn Lake Park borough has a dam dilemma. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection’s Dam Safety Division has ordered an upgrade of the over 100 year-old dam at Penn Lake… or else. Penn Lake borough councils have discussed the time when the state would come to order dam repairs for decades. An account was set up not long ago to start funding the costs of engineering ahead of the expected order. Hopes were that any required
action would get put off until late in this decade, but no, the order has come and it’s time to get plans done ahead of a construction project. Or not. The DEP gives the option of ‘no action,’ where the state would then come in and remove the dam, billing the borough for the cost. At the informational meeting held at Penn Lake this past Thursday, the cost to remove the dam is estimated to be between $500,000 and a million. The volunteers on the borough-formed committee
to explore rebuilding the dam have estimated the cost of the construction at $1.9 million, plus a bit more than a million more dollars for engineering, paperwork, some kind of retention barrier in the lake to retain a small pool during the reconstruction to keep the fish, and a provision that could make a ford on Wright Creek, below the new version of the dam. The plan, as projected, would lower the spillway and remove the road over it, so the lake road would dead end there. The ford would provide
a way to continue around the lake at that end, especially for emergency vehicles. Speakers at the informational event were introduced by Lisa Stuart of the committee, and included engineers Clint Sorber of Borton Lawson Engineering and Paul Schweiger of Gennett Fleming, along with committee members Dan George and Dan Cronauer, plus Paul Rogan, also of Penn Lake borough council. The current earth and rock dam is leaking — known as seeping — and the outlet control system no longer works. Schweiger pointed out in his presentation that when he reviewed the history of the structure he found that the dam, built in 1905, was already reported to be seeping in 1911. The plan as presented is to install a structure against the existing dam with a filter to stop the seepage. The work will put a new outlet control in place, and re-line the outlet pipe through the old dirt and rock dam, and extend that out the new structure. The spillway would be lowered, and Wright Creek, below the dam, improved. The result will be a structure that would withstand a maximum event — a 10,000 year flood. To pay for it, borough taxes will rise about seven times current levels (just the portion of taxes paid to Penn
Lake — not any of the Crestwood school district or county taxes). These new taxes would hold for the term of the loan needed to pay for the work — estimated at 20 years. This may change if any grants are found. The decision to borrow will be made by voters at this November’s election. Explanation and questions continued on past dark. More meetings are planned over the next couple of months — and more articles written, starting with next week’s Journal-Herald.
Clint Sorber, engineer for Borton-Lawson, explained the plans for repairing the dam to stop it from seeping, and to provide a new outlet control system. JH: Seth Isenberg