Follow us on Twitter

IMPORTANT NEWS:

Kingdom Dam/Water Level Issue

After several months of back and forth, and review of the build plans of Kingdom Dam, we received the following note from the DEC supervising engineer Tom Lincoln concerning our complaints about the low water level at Lincoln Pond that so many of us observed. As you can see there WAS an error made in the construction of the Dam – one that was caused by poor survey work conducted by a subcontractor:

"Hi All,
After several inquiries and discussions with Clough Harbor, they have been able to confirm that there was an error in the 2013 survey work that their subconsultant performed. This was done in the permitting stages and used going forward. At first they thought it was a data conversion error, but the more they looked into it, they determined it to be a random error where not all survey points were shifted by the same amount. This also was recently discovered on another dam in western NY that the same surveyor worked on, however there the error was even greater.

To briefly sum up a few topics of interest:

-Murnane did not contribute to the error

– they worked off a point that was established at the wrong elevation by CHA’s subcontractor surveyor. -DEC has asked DASNY to work with CHA and have Prudent pay for a remedial design to the dam to raise the normal water level elevation by about 3.5”.

-DEC will keep you advised to the modification CHA recommends and the construction schedule for implementation.

-DEC Regional staff have performed drainage improvements on the roadways on both sides of the dam as of a few weeks ago.

So even in dry periods in the future, the water will be a minimum of 3.5” higher than it was this summer. We will keep you up to date as the design for the dam modification advances. The intended construction timeframe would be this spring. Thanks as always,

-Tom

I -- and others -- have thanked Tom for his due diligence on this matter in following up on our complaints. So, it seems that we will be seeing more construction work on the Dam to rectify the error. We are still putting pressure on the Elizabethtown Highway Dept. to rectify the Kingdom Dam road issue brought up at our last membership meeting. [Update 12/27/2017 -- Elizabethtown supervisor Noel Merrihew told me there is money in the Town budget for work on the latter project and he would speak to the Highway superintendent about getting it done in the spring.]

Gerry Zahavi, Pres., Lincoln Pond Association

2017 Summer Season Schedule

* The 2017 ANNUAL MEETING took place on Saturday, July 22. The hghlight of the meeting was the presentation by Tom Lincoln, supervising engineer on the Kingdom Dam reconstruction project (from the DIvision of Operations, DEC). He presented an overview of, and Powerpoint presentation on, the Kingdom Dam project -- explaining how and why it progressed as it did. He also answered questions about the project. You can hear his full and lengthy presentation here: TOM LINCOLN PRESENTATION (MP3 Audio File). For some of the historical images Lincoln utilized in his Powerpoint presentation, see: KINGDOM DAM HISTORICAL PHOTOS. We will soon be posting a full recording of the meeting.

We are following up on the concerns expressed at the meeting: water level of the pond, milfoil control, road conditions around the dam, and more. Updates on progress on these matters will be posted here.

* Some Lincoln Pond wine glasses, pub glasses, T-shirts, and bumper stickers will still be available this year. Contact Judy Schwarz at: (518) 942-7023

* If you haven't already sent in your annual membership dues ($15 per camp) please do so now. You can send the dues directly to our treasurer, Jeff Sienkiewicz at 68 Marwick Manor, New Milford, CT 06776, or to Gerry Zahavi, 4172 Lincoln Pond Rd. Elizabethtown, NY 12932. Please make all checks payable to the "Lincoln Pond Association."

* BROADBAND INITIATIVE:

Our broadband initiative has slowed, unfortunately. We are still waiting for NYS to announce the partnership grants that are to be made available for broadband expansion into rural underserved areas. We'll let you know when we hear more.