Ryan Larson is a newly elected board member, replacing Jeff Neuenschwander
who decided not to run again at this point. Kay Davis and Daryl Tschoepe
were re-elected, and will be returning to the board for another term.
Thanks to all who attended, and we'll be posting up more info from the
meeting soon.
In fact, even the normal seepage you'd expect from an earthen dam has now
dried up. In May we had the same professional engineer that did the
original report in 2005 just come out to review and update that report, and
he found no evidence of leakage either.
We have only had 25% of our average rainfall so far this year. Coupled
with 40+ days of over 100° temperatures and the evaporation is far above
normal. You may have heard that Lake Travis is down 28 FEET from normal
July levels, and the last boat ramp will probably soon be closed as it is
supposed to be shut down at 640 feet, and the lake is currently at 637! We
are in a drought of a severity that hasn't been seen since the 50's, and we
may come close to the 1903 number! A true hundred year drought.
The LCRA says that Lake Travis is currently losing about two inches a week
due to evaporation, and that is a much colder and deeper body of water. Our
lake will evaporate faster and faster as it's average temperature rises.
Many of the small tanks and ponds in the neighborhood have been dry since
the early part of the year. If the 100° days and no rain continues, the
large lake may well follow them.
As far as recovering the lake level, I'd say we will operate on the same
plan that the LCRA is using to recover the highland lakes. We need rain,
lots of rain.
A leak is not the issue with our dam.
Now, what work the dam does need in order to meet Texas Commission of
Environmental Quality guidelines is more spillway, ironically enough. Far
from a leak, the problem is we don¹t have enough spillway area to safely
pass floodwaters without failing and the plan and costs to get in
compliance will be a major topic of discussion at the annual meeting. The
hydrological engineer who has done all of the research on our dam will be
there as well, so I'd encourage you to attend. He will also be the project
manager if we decide to fund the repairs, so he should be able to provide as
detailed an answer as is currently possible to your questions.
Keep your eyes peeled!
A version of the deed restrictions that you can actually search, and even
copy and paste. This should make it much easier to find information, and
it's actually readable as well.
Click on any of the homeowner, builder, buyer or restriction buttons at the
top of the website, and you'll see the "searchable version" button
underneath the button for the original scanned version.
First, there are only two trees too large to take out by "amateurs". Both
will need to be trimmed back some, but both can be left for now.
One is a big mesquite close to the road that is already dying. It needs to
be trimmed, but it might get bulldozed as part of building the second
spillway anyway, so just trimming it up for now is fine.
The second is surrounded by poison ivy, it's in the middle of the clump or
trees and brush in the narrow part of the dam. For sure it will probably
need to be professionally removed and backfilled, eventually. It makes
sense to do this when the berm is built and the fill work is done, although
it too needs to be trimmed and have the underbrush around it removed.
All the other brush and vegetation can be removed.
The biggest change is that with the current TCEQ requirements, a second
spillway needs to flow much less water than what was required in 2005. As a
result, it doesn't need to be another concrete one. Some fiberglass mat
compound that grass grows up and through to make it erosion resistant can be
laid on the ground and seeded. So essentially a small area can be bulldozed
next to the road and this stuff laid down and the second spillway is done.
Net result is the new estimate will probably be in the $100-110,000 range
for ALL the work that needs to be done (assuming we can get some volunteers
for the clean up of the slope and existing spillway).
There's advantages to working during a recession apparently.
This is a big enough savings that I think we need to look into getting a
loan to do the work now.
If you're interested, feel free to attend. Bring gloves, their may be work
involved ;-)
The fence damage from last years storm has been repaired.
Mowing around the entire fence line has been completed, and that is now a
regularly scheduled event.
Gate to the park has been sanded and repainted by neighborhood volunteers,
saving money.
Estimates to replace and/or upgrade all of the neighborhoods signage is now
being worked up by a Georgetown vendor.
Dock repairs (and possibly painting) will also soon be undertaken by
volunteers. The underlying structure is sound, there is just some vandalism
to the railings that needs to be repaired. A coat of white paint will
really make it pop. So if you want to participate, watch here for the date.
We will soon have a PE come out and inspect the dam to determine what trees
we can remove versus what will have to be professionally removed. Once that
is done, we will again be having a volunteer day to remove some of the
brush. Also, that will be the day we do some spillway maintenance. So if
you'd like to help, and save us all some money in the process, watch for the
date!
