COLUMBUS – The state has issued its edict to the more than 370 owners of properties next to the Buckeye Lake dam: The docks, decks, patios and all of the other structures they have built on the state-owned side of the earthen dam have to be removed, at the owners’ expense.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Docks, decks, boat lifts and patios must all be removed to give construction crews access to the dam as work begins on replacing the 184-year-old structure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said the 4.1-mile earthen dam is at risk of failing because it’s been weakened by about 370 homes and other structures built into it.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources mailed letters Monday to property owners stating that all structures must be removed by Nov. 1. Docks and other structures that remain after that date will be removed by state-contracted construction crews and stored up to 60 days, after which the materials will be discarded, the letter says. Owners will be billed for the cost of removal.
“While ODNR cannot guarantee the condition of the dock materials that are removed and temporarily stored, we will exercise care while removing the structures,” the letter says.
If the property owners are not interested in salvaging their docks, decks and other structures, they can sign a waiver, included in the mailing, and the state will remove and dispose of the structures at no cost to the owner.
Beginning Nov. 1, a six-foot chain-link fence will be erected along the edge of the state-owned half of the dam, from the crest of the dam to the lake’s edge. The backside of the dam is owned by the nearly 400 individual property owners.