News

1/19/2024

** Community Maintenance Invitation to Bid

The Beach & Properties Committee is opening the Annual Community Maintenance Bids to the public. The work for bid involves lawn mowing, trimming, sweeping, spring/fall cleanup at association properties in addition to snow removal at the Community Center. If you’re interested in bidding, complete the bid form linked below. Bids must be received by February 10th. At the Feb 13th Board Meeting the bids will be opened, reviewed and voted on by the board. For more information contact Dave Betters or Bob White.

Bid Sheet (https://drive.google.com/file/d/100yd-GrtXbuioqm8oFlbGK0rJpuWWKja/view)

** Mark Your Calendars!

FMLPOA’s 2024 Recreation calendar is here!! https://mcusercontent.com/13559b05a58fb748cc5a40d11/images/1ed16646-866a-a781-e6c0-ba020a01f014.jpg 

12/9/2023

Two Construction Updates for the FML POA residents from the Lake Management Committee.

Dam Valve Repairs

I am sending you the residents an update on the valves replacement. As time goes on and new information comes to light I will send out a report to you so that you can keep informed and to let you know why it is taking a bit more time.

Our divers went down to measure and to draw up our plan of action to remove and replace our valves in September. The original plans that had been designed for us in 1974, without our knowledge, were not what had actually been completed back in 1974. Another procedure had been used to install the valves making our situation change. Our permit application has to change due to procedure? Our team went back to the original company that had completed the work. Their records do not go back that far. Our team spoke to some of the old timers to see if they could give us any information to enlighten us as to what had been done. There were no records.

A new filing was drawn up for the State of CT and the time anticipated by our team for approval by the State of Connecticut will be approximately 2 to 3 months. The problem is our valves were cemented in. They were not supposed to be. One of the procedures will be to jack hammer out the valves and that has to be done with the water around the valves completely lowered? There are procedures to do this without draining the lake. It is just going to take more time. The Engineers recommended that once we receive approval not to inconvenience the residents we could replace the valves at the next drawdown rather than work on them during the lake use season.

A note to assure you our valves are working.

The taxes that have been paid by you, I assure you are being used solely for the necessary permits and all costs to replace the valves. This type of work takes a while to complete. There are many moving parts from state laws to the safety of our residents. We are doing our best to get this completed as soon as possible with little disturbance to our Residents.

I recently received a letter from our Engineer's Office, below is the letter so that you can see their response:

Sue:

A copy of the final draft application package is attached. The only remaining items are the signatures and a check. Please review at your convenience.

Regarding the meeting questions, we have not been waiting 2-3 months to prepare the application. Part of the time elapsed was due to application preparation, and part due to adjustments per the unexpected findings made by the dive team, but there was also a waiting period to receive the Fisheries Determination that had not been figured into the original timetable. This project would not appear to have any obvious potential to impact fish passage, but since Dam Safety required that we obtain a Fisheries determination, preparing and submitting that application and waiting for an answer had to be done.

You mentioned the unexpected findings made by the divers and the difficulty in obtaining adequate information about the original installation. This is one of the perpetual hazards about working on dams that Karl has always emphasized. Because of the age of dams and their appurtenances in our region, there are never going to be guarantees about what will be found when a dam is opened up for excavation or a dam’s operating mechanisms that have gone unused for years or decades and then need restarting or replacing. When working on a dam, one must expect unexpected complications and / or adjustments during the work process.

Although it is disappointing that the work could not be completed this year, the reality of working on dams and with the State’s permitting process means that schedules can generally only be estimates, not guarantees. Hopefully this will help give some added perspective, and of course, please let us know if you have any further questions.

Alex Acimovic

FML RD road repair and sawhorse.
I have been in contact with the town and I spoke with the company doing the work. The company is staying in touch with me. I have been told that with the weather on Monday the work will be starting on Tuesday. This work will take about a week. I will be opening the valves on Friday and the valves will stay open until Tuesday morning to assure that the company can do the work. We are supposed to have a rain storm this Sunday night through Monday morning. That as you know fills the lake in rather quickly. So opening the valves will not lower the lake too much. While they are doing the work we will be able to get in and out and we will need to be patient at times.