New plan to dam Lake Tecumseh

VIRGINIA BEACH

Two years ago, a feisty group of residents, boaters and outdoor enthusiasts defeated an environmental proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to build two small dikes that would physically disconnect Lake Tecumseh from Back Bay.

The $200,000 project was intended to return the two water bodies to their separate, natural ways. Both would benefit ecologically, according to scientists - better water quality, less muddy runoff, more aquatic grasses, more fish.

Opponents were not pleased to learn about the project haphazardly. And they successfully argued to keep in place a man-made connection between Lake Tecumseh and Back Bay that, for decades, has made boating, fishing and water access a happy way of life in southern Virginia Beach, near Sandbridge.

This week, after months of public meetings and refinements, the Fish and Wildlife Service again asked for a government permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to pursue the project.

Included this time is a boat portage, with wheels and a hand crank, so motor boats could continue to have free access between the two water systems.

In addition, the wildlife service is promising no increased flooding because of the project and no devaluing of waterfront properties. If either consequence occurs, "we'll take out the dams," said Will Smith, a service biologist overseeing the project.

Smith and other wildlife officials have been trying to win approval for the separation concept for more than eight years. They have run into money problems and opposition from neighbors, who fear that the dikes, or weirs, would bottle up the lake and worsen flooding in an area that already floods easily.

David Comer, who lives in the nearby Ocean Lakes neighborhood and has questioned the project in the past, said he sees the latest plans as a good compromise.

"There'll be people opposed to it, I'm sure," Comer said. "But, personally, I think it's a pretty fair deal."

Part of the problem last time, Comer said, was that the wildlife service had not done its homework and failed to notify people who would have been affected by construction.

The proposal in 2008, for example, would have cut off water access to 34 property owners in Sandbridge.

That now has been remedied by the boat portage, Smith said. He reasoned that, because Lake Tecumseh is so shallow, the boat lift would actually give those owners more than 100 additional days of water access to Ashville Bridge Creek and Back Bay - a boost for their property values.

Lake Tecumseh is owned by the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, which uses the shallow, 261-acre body of water as a buffer for its huge Atlantic Treatment Plant.

HRSD dropped its support for the separation project two years ago after fierce opposition surfaced.

This time, the sewage authority endorses the plans, noting how the service has placated local concerns and that "it may have an environmental benefit," said spokeswoman Nancy Munnikhuysen.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com