Repairs needed to reopen the top of Lake Leatherwood Dam have officially been given the green light.
At its monthly meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 19, the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a bid of $52,000 from Stacy’s Stoneworks to make repairs on the deteriorating handrails that run the length of the top of the dam.
The portion of the top of the dam is a connector to the Lake Leatherwood Trail loop and has been closed off for quite some time.
“The trail around the lake is the trail,” commissioner Beth Giltner said. “When I worked in town and people say, ‘where can we go hike?’ I always send them to the lake loop and now you can’t do it. And you haven’t been able to do it for years.”
The winning bid was one of two received for the project and involves restoring pillars and other sections of the concrete handrail that may be cracked or crumbling. The second bid called for attaching prefabricated chain link panels to the rail.
“Simply line the dam with chain link fencing and call it good,” said Sam Dudley, the city’s parks and recreation director. “… using some kind of metal hose clamp to tie them down to the piers.”
The projected timeframe submitted in the bid from Stacy’s Stoneworks is six months.
“It seems like a no-brainer,” commissioner Mark Ingram said of which plan to approve. “Even we talked about doing those panels as a temporary thing … something we could do to get the dam back open. It’s not going to do anything to stop the deterioration of the current rails and it seems like Stacy’s proposal would do that.
“I really feel like there’s only one viable proposal.”
Commission chair Ruth Hager agreed, saying the proposal recommending the fence section “looks more like a temporary fix.”
The money for the project will come from a Lake Leatherwood money market account, according to Dudley.
“That account can only be used for stuff at Lake Leatherwood,” he told commissioners.
Dudley also reminded commissioners that there may be a need in the future for other concrete repairs atop the dam.
“I mean concrete, it goes, and just like anything it doesn’t last forever,” he said. “So as time goes on more of these might need to get redone and instead of having to close the whole dam down, if we know that there’s something that needs to be replaced we can go out there and it can be a quick job. … It’s never going to be in the state that it’s in now again, hopefully.”
OTHER ITEMS
The commission also approved turning a part-time seasonal grounds specialist position into a full-time role.
“We have a new grounds person we hired just a little while ago, maybe a couple of months ago, and he’s been working out great,” Dudley said. “He’s really staying on top of everything … he also has a lot of experience with contract work, painting, construction, stuff like that, and it seems like he could be really useful through the winter.”
Lake Leatherwood cabin renovations and helping with Christmas lights projects are two areas where the extra help would be valuable, Dudley told commissioners.
“If we know we want him, let’s lock him up … make it year around instead of seasonal,” he said.
In his director’s report, Dudley told commissioners that the department recently sold two shuttles for $28,000 and the Sal Wilson Memorial Pavilion at Lake Leatherwood Park will be the site of a fall native tree giveaway from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.
The event will include live music and free drinks and snacks, although donations are welcome, Dudley said.
“We intend for it to be more of an event,” he said.
The commission also discussed proposed concepts from McClelland Consulting Engineers regarding renovation plans at Basin Spring Park.
The expansive project will involve the city and possibly include funds from the city advertising and promotion commission as well, Dudley told commissioners.
The commission also spent time discussing the possible dredging of a creek at Lake Leatherwood Park.
“The end of Leatherwood Creek flows into the mouth of Lake Leatherwood,” Dudley said. “This wetland area has always been more challenging to cross after heavy rains. However, lack of regular maintenance and an increase in heavy rain events have resulted in major degradation of this once beautiful area. It’s still beautiful, but over the past several years the original creek bed has become filled with silts and gravel or fallen trees and other natural debris. This has resulted in a major redirection of the flow of water through this area, which has rendered the creek crossing nearly impassable for large portions of the year. … Along with the closing of the dam, this problem has significantly decreased the accessibility of a large portion of the park to trail users.”
