"Link To Photo History"

The replacement of the Norris Lake dam had its inception in the settlement of a lawsuit against upstream developers dumping substantial silt into the lake bed due to unsatisfactory controls.  The Homeowners Association Board of Directors (BoD) subsequently decreed that the majority of funds derived from the settlement would be used to replace an aging, antiquated (difficult manual adjustments) and limited life dam structure—a “now or never” situation due to a paucity of future projected funds. Some residents in shallow water, made so by the heavy silt deposits, strongly favored using the funds to dredge the lake but the counter (and correct) argument—no dam, no lake—prevailed.

A committee of five residents was appointed to study various concepts that might apply to our specific lake and its tendency to flood low lying backyards along the lake and feeder creek shorelines during periods of heavy rains.  The selection committee was composed of Jeff McLaren (BoD member), John Klonoski (Legal, husband of BoD President Sharon Rowen, also legal), Leonard Matheny (FONL), Roy Fair (FONL) and Sandy Eckstein (FONL), all of whom had an equal vote and three of whom were strong supporting members of the Friends of Norris Lake organization. A visit to a multi-million dollar county facility in Hall County, GA provided convincing evidence that a modified inflatable/deflatable bladder dam manufactured by Obermeyer was the way to go.  Their Spillway Gate System is most simply described as a row of steel gate panels supported on their downstream side by inflatable air bladders. By controlling the pressure in the bladders, the lake elevation maintained by the gates can be infinitely adjusted within the system control range (full inflation to full deflation) and accurately maintained at user-selected set-points. Within a matter of minutes (vice hours), the supervisor demonstrated that the flow of water across the dam could be increased or blocked completely by a few minor adjustments on a control panel hooked to a large air compressor in a nearby secure facility.  All that remained was for the Board to find common ground with the contractor to negotiate a cost in hundreds of thousands vice many millions of dollars.

The first requirement was to determine if the spillway area was suitable for constructing such a dam.  A contractor was engaged to conduct an engineering feasibility study using the Obermeyer dam approach with engineer Randy Bass in charge.  Core samples were taken that verified we were good to go with our chosen concept.  The BoD subsequently signed a contract with Sunbelt Structures to fabricate the replacement dam and drawdown of the lake began in November 2006.  The initial proposal came in just shy of $300K and contained some “gold plating” but, more importantly, was at the ragged edge of available funds.  The Board committed residents to provide some of the site preparation (installation of silt fencing, hauling in dirt, and rocks, building a secure facility for the controls, etc.) and about $30K was pared from the proposal.  A plodding Corps of Engineers and DeKalb County officials eventually approved the required permits, the contract was signed and heavy equipment and an operations trailer were moved into place in early December.  Glenn White was chosen as Sunbelt’s construction supervisor; David Culpepper was site engineer.

The photos accompanying this narrative depict site preparation and construction and tell their own visual story. The committee became hands off at this point except for monitoring and documenting construction progress and reviewing options for preparing a secure room to house the control panel and compressor. Several approaches were considered:  (1) build a concrete or cinder block building on the grassy area across the bridge overlooking the dam--REJECTED primarily due to right of way restrictions, permit delays and cost; (2) build a similar structure on the lawn in front of the clubhouse--REJECTED for the same reasons as in (1) above; (3) place the secure room underneath the clubhouse--REJECTED because of an overhead crack due to building settlement, the requirement to remove substantial soil from the area and a continuing haven for spiders, moisture and mold; and (4) select and prepare a room inside the clubhouse to house the equipment--ACCEPTED because of building availability, no permits required, minimum construction and negligible cost.  

The 1030 Club storage room was the logical place to prepare due to its outside wall in proximity to the dam, lake shore and the clubhouse’s electrical panel.  The 1030 Club’s material was moved to another room and secured, a steel government desk was given away, shelves were taken down, junk was discarded and file cabinets were rearranged to provide sufficient room to deploy the control panel and compressor.  Leonard Matheny acquired an unused free steel door and frame from his workplace and he and Mike Holmes removed the wooden access door, mounted the steel door and installed double locks thereon.  Leonard also fabricated some steel bars into a grate and mounted it to block the inside of the lone window.  Blinds were erected to cover the window and some tar and flashing were applied to the outside wall to prevent any water intrusion into the room.  The total cost of room preparation did not exceed $200.  All other alternatives would have exceeded a thousand dollars and permit approvals would have caused time delays well beyond dam completion. 

Dam construction was completed in February 2007 and the heavy equipment and personnel moved on to their next project.  The control panel arrived first from Obermeyer followed shortly thereafter by the compressor.  North Cherokee Electric, a contractor for Sunbelt Structures, arrived within days and began laying the air pipes from the dam to the building, rewiring the secure room, and interfacing the equipment.  Aside from a few weather delays, this process was efficiently completed the second week in March and Sunbelt engineer David Culpepper returned to conduct a dress rehearsal by partially raising the dam and checking for problems.  Only one minor problem was noted—a small leak in one of the bladders that required lowering the dam again and re-torqueing a couple of bolts.  The dam was officially raised on 13 March 2007 and began backing water into the lake.  Several residents were issued keys to the secure room and trained in equipment operation.

In the months that followed the dam understandably drew many curious viewers and some members of the younger set were noted down in the spillway, a potentially dangerous situation fraught with liability given the absence of obstructive fencing.  Friends of Norris Lake members volunteered to erect a chain link fence with locked gate access surrounding the spillway if the Board would provide the funds, which they did.  The cost was $996.00 compared to a contractor estimate of $3,900.00.

As with most systems of this complexity, tweaking of the system on several occasions into 2008 has been necessary to remove all the “bugs.”

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