Berkeley Lake residents to weigh in on failing dam

For weeks, city leaders have locked horns with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the extent of damage caused by the 500-year storm -- and how much FEMA is willing to pony up on a city-estimated $4 million repair bill. Right now, that stands at less than $1 million.

Meanwhile, Sprinkle said he and more than a dozen other homeowners are fretting about the dam's structural integrity -- and their own safety.

"While Berkeley Lake and FEMA kick around the political football on who's going to pay for this thing, we have this huge problem: We're concerned about our homes washing into the Chattahoochee River," said Sprinkle, president of the River District homeowners association, which represents the new subdivision of $600,000-to-$1 million homes. "The bottom line is we have a dam that we know has stress fractures and continues to fail and nothing has been done."

Lois Salter, mayor of the Gwinnett County community of 2,000, will hold a town hall meeting Saturday to allay any fears over the dam and field questions about the FEMA situation. She'll be joined by Piedmont Geotechnical and city engineers and officials from the state's Safe Dams Program.

City and state officials have maintained the dam's condition doesn't threaten homes downstream. Still, at the urging of the Safe Dams Program, the city in September lowered the lake 10 feet to reduce pressure on the dam.

"I've asked engineers, ‘Is this thing still safe?' " Salter said after Monday' discovery of a crack four times the size of the original 32-foot-long slope failure. "They don't believe it is dangerous at the moment. People don't need to be running for the hills."

What's weighed on the mayor is the city's feud with FEMA. The city contends that flooding not only caused the slope failure but also damaged the internal drain system, which collects water and pipes it away. FEMA sees that system, installed during a 1980 upgrade, as a “pre-existing condition.”

FEMA spokeswoman Terry Ingram said Thursday that the agency might fix the drain section under the cracks, but not the entire system. Ingram said 30 years ago, the city grouted and effectively stopped up a large portion of the drain -- a system, she said, the city now wants FEMA to fix.

"There is just a limited section that has storm-related damage in our opinion," Ingram said. FEMA will pay up to 75 percent to repair damage resulting from a natural disaster.

FEMA also points to a wet spot that could have indicated problems with the drain system before the storm.

But Tom Woosley, a manager with the Safe Dams Program, said the city hired a consultant in 2008 who "didn't find any problem with the internal drain system at that time or any other problems with the dam."

"[FEMA is] speculating about what may have been happening under the ground for years as a possible precondition," Salter said. "No one knows what was going on. There weren't cracks before and there are cracks now. I just think that tells the story."

Berkeley Lake plans to appeal FEMA's decision. If unsuccessful, the city said it will be on the hook for a $3 million repair bill -- a high hurdle for a city with a $1 million-plus annual budget.

Resident Bill Stanton, who also lives in the River District neighborhood, said if the city gets stuck with the bulk of the cost, leaders might have a tough time persuading locals to accept a tax increase.

"If you think about it, [$3 million] would be a tough nut for a small city to absorb on an individual household basis," Stanton said. "I mean, that's a lot."

If you go

What: Town hall meeting
When: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday
Where: Lake Berkeley Chapel, 4043 S. Berkeley Lake Road

ABOUT THE DAM