By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After weighing a series of pros and cons, Whitewater officials have decided to hit the pause button on a complete drawdown of both of the city’s lakes for an upcoming dredging project.
The Common Council on Aug. 4 voted to delay the dredging work by a year — early in 2022, rather than early 2021, as was originally planned.
Eric Boettcher, director of parks and recreation, said the current status of the two lakes differs. Cravath is at its lowest level, Boettcher said, while Trippe’s water levels are down 3 to 4 feet, depending on water level and precipitation.
Several reasons were cited for the delay, including logistics for shoreline property owners. Each individual landowner is required to obtain a permit for shoreline restoration and dredging work; a blanket permit for all, Boettcher said, is not possible.
Although preliminary efforts had been underway for the dredging work, Boettcher said the work can be delayed so individual property owners can take the necessary steps to procure the permits.
“There are actually positives to delay dredging,” Boettcher said. “There are ecological benefits.”
The one down side, Boettcher and council members agreed during the recent deliberations, was the continued low levels within both bodies of water for a more prolonged period of time than initially anticipated.
But Boettcher said he believed there was robust support for the delay, based on feedback from a recent online survey.
“It seems that quite a few people are in favor of delaying for one more year,” Boettcher said. “It gives residents more time to plan.”
Elected officials agreed with the assessment.
“If we’re going to do this, we want to do this right,” council member Jim Allen said.
Council member Carol McCormick noted she personally would be impacted by the decision.
“As a lake resident, I’m in,” she said.