Posted on June 23, 2021
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — On the heels of last week’s public meeting announcing plans to remove the failing dam at Horseshoe Lake, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District officials have released an additional video to further explain their decision.
The proposed $28.3 million project will also include an overhaul of the Lower Lake dam downstream in the Doan Brook watershed, with the cost being split at roughly $14 million apiece and covered by fees collected through the Regional Stormwater Management Program.
“Not only will this option address safety concerns and eliminate the threat to human life, it will also provide maximum stormwater benefit to the region,” NEORSD Senior Watershed Team Leader Jeff Jowett explained in the 12-minute video shot on location atop the Horseshoe Lake spillway.
Officials noted at the June 15 public meeting and at a joint session of Shaker and Cleveland Heights city councils the day before that the additional cost for reconstructing the 170-year-old earth-and-stone dam at Horseshoe would be around $6 million more — a $34 million total that cannot be justified given other project needs in the region.
“We would be hard pressed to allocate $21 million (total for Horseshoe Lake and dam) and not see benefits downstream,” Regional Sewer District Director of Watershed Programs Frank Greenland said. ”Lower Lake has a better footprint for storage.”
Both dams were built by the North Union Shakers beginning in 1826. Lower Lake was created to power a mill. This was followed by another mill further upstream and the dam that created Horseshoe Lake in 1852.
At the time, the depth of Horseshoe was recorded at 25 feet. Today, it would only be about 6 feet deep, had not the Ohio Department of Natural Resources ordered the lake to be drained about two years ago.
“That’s like having a bathtub filled three-quarters of the way with dirt and then trying to add water,” Jowett noted.
Greenland pointed out that “no dam is good ecologically,” and some consideration was given to removing both.
He also noted that the eventual work on Lower Lake will include dredging to improve the depth there, which currently ranges from a maximum of 6 feet on the western end near the dam to only about 2 feet on the eastern end by the North Woodland Road bridge and the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes marsh.
NEORSD Deputy Watershed Director Matt Scharver further explained that the eventual Lower Lake dam project will amount to a wider replacement to cover a section where water escapes onto North Park Boulevard and Coventry Road during heavy rains.
Plans also call for “armoring the face of Lower Lake dam to eliminate overtopping,” Scharver added.
But the first priority will be deconstructing Horseshoe Lake dam, which has continued to deteriorate, with water seeping into the spillway, causing additional sinkholes and cracking the historic stonework, Jowett said.
Sewer district officials hope to send out a request for proposals (RFP) as early as next month, with pre-design completion in the summer of 2022, then detailed design a year after that, with the Horseshoe Lake project possibly going out to bid by around October 2023.
And at this point, no official decision has been made on how the area will be restored, although plans call for hiring a landscape architect and a stream restoration specialist.
“There will no longer be a permanent lake at Horseshoe, but two streams that once fed the lake will be restored, with native plantings to create a natural stream system through the drained lake bed,” Jowett added.
Once the project starts moving, sewer district officials said they would hold meetings at key stages, typically at the design kickoff, and throughout the design process, as well as a meeting before construction once a contractor is in place.
In the meantime, NEORSD has already requested that both Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights city officials sign off on the proposal.
Sewer district officials added that the City of Cleveland — the actual owner of the lakes and parklands, which leases them to the two other cities — has been very involved downstream.
“The prospect of removing a lake is a big change,” Jowett said. “But it’s also a tremendous opportunity not only to protect the environment and address downstream issues, but to return the brook to its natural state.”
Some concerns voiced at the council and public meetings dealt with the possibility of additional sediment being carried to the Nature Center and Lower Lake.
“When we remove Horseshoe Lake, there will be some floodplain,” Greenland said. “And we don’t see a significant change in the amount of flow coming out from there.”
As for concerns about contaminants in the sediment, Scharver said there is the possibility of hydrocarbons being present. And in terms of green infrastructure and amenities, officials said there might be some “add-ons” for which Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights could seek separate funding.
Residents and stakeholders are encouraged to provide further input and comment by visiting https://www.neorsd.org/shaker-lakes-review-and-recommendations/, calling 216-881-8247 or responding at askus@neorsd.org
