Dear neighbors,
Although we, like all of you, have been adjusting to the lockdown and rightly focused on family and other pressing matters over the last few weeks, we want to update you, as work on the dam project continues to progress.
1. GBRA approves contract. The big news is that the GBRA board of directors approved the Lake Dunlap WCID’s contract with them to finance and manage the dam in a 9-0 unanimous vote. We had hoped to see this last month, but with the restrictions on meetings, their March meeting was cancelled like so many others. With this officially behind us, and both the Lake Dunlap WCID and the GBRA board approving the contract, we are well on our way.
2. WCID election is November 3, 2020. As most of you know, I am sure, the Lake Dunlap WCID board, in response to Comal County’s decision to not conduct the May 2 election several weeks ago, approved the paperwork to move the election to November 3, 2020, where our WCID members will be able to vote at any polling location in their respective counties.
3. Town Hall to be rescheduled. With the election now moved into the fall, PLDA plans to reschedule the Town Hall sometime in September. With the additional time, we expect that much more information will be in place and that we will be able to provide pretty accurate estimates of both costs and taxes well ahead of the election.
4. Dam engineering is complete. In more good news, the engineering for the dam is now 100% complete. The image below shows a rendering of what the dam will look like from the upstream side. As you can see, one of the gates is down for maintenance, with a stop log keeping the water level constant. The WCID has teams involved in all levels of discussions around construction, bidding, and more, and this will continue as one of the core terms of our contract with GBRA.
5. The construction and financing timelines are currently unchanged. I am sure many of are wondering how the timelines for construction and financing may have changed due to the rescheduling of the election. As far as we can tell, we think the timeline is still pretty accurate, as we were not going to be able to access the low-cost financing we are seeking from the Water Development Board until November in any case.
From us here at PLDA, we hope you and your families are safe and managing things as best you can. Once things open back up, we will also plan to reschedule the annual PLDA membership meeting. In the meantime, please know we are all still working hard to bring back our lake.
J Harmon President PLDA jrharmon123@yahoo.com