After years of deterioration, a tide gate outfall on West Beach Road near Swan Lake is scheduled to receive a facelift, effectively fixing damage inflicted by years of wear and tear.
The maintenance project, which could generate some controversy given its proximity to the lake, is completely necessary, said Assistant County Engineer Randy Brackett.
A crew will slipline an existing pipe that is falling apart. The problem is well documented, the engineer added.
“There’s gaping holes and it fills up with sand so it can’t discharge water from Swantown Lake,” Brackett said. “The lake starts to raise up and level and it gets to be a mess.”
The primary concern is that raised levels of marine water poses a threat to the properties neighboring the lake with the saltwater intrusion, he added.
Inserting a smaller diameter, smoother pipe will allow the drainage system to work as it was originally designed.
“It’s purely maintenance work,” Brackett said. “The Department of Fish and Wildlife and other regulatory agencies have signed off on the project.”
Brackett said the storm drains will be cleaned up as part of the project. If all goes according to plan, the work should be completed by the end of October.
According to Angie Homola, a resident who lives in the vicinity of the project and a member of the Swan Lake Watershed Preservation Group, the work has already begun. And without a required hydraulic permit application.
Homola said she was told by a Fish and Wildlife employee that no permit had been issued. A neighbor of Homola’s, however, investigated the site and found that work had been done on the tide gate.
“The county is lying if they say they’ve done nothing,” she said, adding that repeated requests to be kept apprised of progress and to be sent work orders had been ignored. “I’ve heard nothing from them.”
Brackett said Tuesday work has not begun on the project and Public Works is in the process of securing a hydraulic permit.
“Some residents may have seen some work being done in the vicinity of that culvert, but all that was was cleaning the grate in front of the culvert,” Brackett said.
