Missing spillway gate leaves 'waterfront' residents high and dry

The last time The Warrior visited Burnetts Mill in Suffolk, it wasn't being rebuilt from a tornado.

The issue then was too much water. This time, it's too little.

In 2006, resident Ellen Barnes said she was getting swamped by green, mucky water that brought turtles to her back porch.

Now Barnes' backyard ditch is bone dry, and so are other outlying stretches of the lake.

There are still turtles. I counted about 18 little green heads in the water that remains behind Bob Marchant's house. "We bought waterfront property," said Marchant, scanning a narrow strip of dry land that now borders his lot.

Residents say water levels have dropped several feet in about two years.

"As low as it is now, I could move my bulkhead and get more land," said eight-year resident Katherine Ellis. Beyond her bulkhead, there now are several feet of dry ground.

Residents say the reason is a missing gate that controls how much water flows from a spillway into the Nansemond River.

When the gate is in place, water levels are higher. When it's removed, water levels drop.

A couple of years ago, the gate was removed, lowering the lake, residents said.

Eric Nielsen, Suffolk's Public Works director, said the gate was removed by the Hillpoint Farms Homeowners Association. That's the Suffolk subdivision that shares the lake with Burnetts Mill.

"The door shouldn't have been there in the first place," Nielsen said. "The normal water elevation was artificially high."

Keeping that much water in the lake raises the potential for flooding, he said.

Much of the Burnetts Mill residents' ire is aimed at United Property Associates, which manages the homeowners associations in both Hillpoint and Burnetts Mill. Seventy-two acres of the lake lie in Hillpoint; 8 acres are in Burnetts Mill.

"We're the little fish in the big pool of money," said Burnetts Mill resident Stephanie Gulley.

United Property Associates did not respond to The Warrior's phone messages.

The water level's not likely to go back up, Nielsen said. The only way would be if someone assumed responsibility for removing that gate when there's a heavy rain. If they fail, someone could get flooded.

"That sounds like one heckuva liability," Nielsen said.

Burnetts Mill and Hillpoint Farms residents - how does the lake level suit you?