The public is invited to attend an informal open house meeting to discuss replacing three existing bridges on Highway 369/Browns Bridge Road over Lake Lanier in Forsyth and Hall Counties.

The open house, hosted by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), will be on Tuesday, May 22 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Little Mill Middle School located at 6800 Little Mill Road in Cumming.

Georgia DOT engineers and consultants will be available to discuss the proposals that involve replacing bridges over Six Mile Creek, Two Mile Creek and the Chattahoochee River portion of Lake Lanier.

“It’s an informal, come up and see the presentation – it’s a one-on-one discussion with folks,” said Teri Pope, spokesperson with GDOT.

 May Social

Sponsored by Lake Lanier Association and Lake Lanier Islands

 Saturday, May 19, 2012

Noon until…

Sunset Cove-Band begins at 4:00

On the beach at Lake Lanier Islands

www.lakelanierislands.com

7000 Lanier Island Parkway

Buford, Georgia–770-945-8787

 LLA will have a table on the beach at Sunset Cove. Join us for food, drink, music, and camaraderie. If you come by car, the gate fee is $10. Keep your receipt and apply your entry fee toward food and drink during your stay.

 If you come by boat, you may reserve a slip by going to their website, or try to use a slip that is not reserved. You may also beach your boat. Houseboats and anchors are not allowed on the beach due to safety concerns.

May 15, 2012

 Corps Suspends Permits and pursues Water Safey at Lake Lanier 

 Park Rangers at Lake Lanier are preparing for another busy recreation season while the water level at Lake Lanier continues to decline as drought conditions persist throught the southeast. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will curtail some of its operations.

 On May 20, 2012, USACE will suspend evaluations of permit requests for new private docks received under the lottery system and requests for upgrades to existing private docks. This action is in response to a number of serious boating accidents and water-related deaths on Lake Lanier this year. USACE is refocusing all available park ranger staff to promote water safety through one-on-one contact with lake visitors.

 ”We regret any inconvenience this may cause, but it is important to be able to shift available staff to assist project visitors during the peak recreation season. We expect that we will need all available park rangers until some point after the Labor Day Holiday period,” said Lisa Coghlan, Deputy Public Affairs Officer.

 For additional information contact USACE at 770-945-9531.

The 2012 Annual Member Meeting will be held at Gainesville State College-Oakwood Campus on Thursday, May 24th. From 5:00-6:00PM there will be a Meet and Greet session with many of our local elected officials and candidates running for office. Concurrently, there will be a business expo for members to speak to local lake related businesses. The regular business meeting will take place at 6:00PM.

Please check the project website for updates and information http://www.gladesreservoir.com/

Grant-supported restoration is county’s first such project

Forsyth County marked the completion of the county’s first stream restoration project with a ribbon cutting ceremony held Monday, May 7. Located inside Forsyth County’s Midway Park, the stream restoration project was designed to improve overall downstream watershed conditions by stabilizing and restoring approximately 1,000 feet of degraded stream bank, using natural channel design methods.

This project was supported by a United States Environmental Protection Agency 319(h) grant administered by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

“This project was undertaken as a part of Forsyth County’s Watershed Improvement Plan,” Director of Engineering John Cunard said. “The county developed our Watershed Improvement Plan in 2007 to comply with regulations, and as a means of identifying the most beneficial and cost-effective projects for water quality improvement.”

Objectives of this stream restoration project included reducing bed and bank erosion and sedimentation; improving channel stability, water quality, habitat and overall function of the stream; and restoring, enhancing and protecting riparian wildlife corridors.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this restoration project,” Cunard said. “Not only were we able to make important progress in terms of water quality, but we were also able to turn this area into a really beautiful outdoor space that can also serve as an educational tool for the community about watersheds and water quality.”

The project features a walking path along the stream and educational signage about the stream restoration project.

Midway Park is located at 5100 Post Road in west Forsyth County. The project is on a tributary to Cheatham Creek in the Big Creek Watershed.

The LLA will have a promotional booth at the Spring Chicken Festival on Saturday, April 28th from 9:00AM-4:00PM in downtown Gainesville. There will be a parade with floats, a chicken cook off, and lots of other fun things going on at this event. We will hold a members only raffle for a $100 gift certificate to our e-store. Please stop by the booth and enter your name in the raffle for a chance to win!

The first member social of the 2012 season will be held on Saturday, May 19th at Sunset Cove at Lake Lanier Islands from noon until ???. Look for an LLA sign on the beach area of Sunset Cove. Please join us for fun and camaraderie with other lake minded individuals. Invite your friends so they can learn more about the LLA.

The 10th annual LLA fundraiser golf tournament will be held May 21st at Legacy on Lanier golf course at Lake Lanier Islands. Player and sponsor opportunities are available. Please see our website for more information.

The 2012 Annual Member Meeting will be held at Gainesville State College-Oakwood Campus on Thursday, May 24th. From 5:00-6:00PM there will be a Meet and Greet session with many of our local elected officials and candidates running for office. Concurrently, there will be a business expo for members to speak to local lake related businesses. The regular business meeting will take place at 6:00PM.

ATTENTION LLA BUSINESS MEMBERS: you are invited to participate in the business expo portion of the annual meeting at no extra charge. You may bring promotional materials or handout items to let LLA members know about your business or services. There is no charge for this promotional opportunity, but it is limited to our business members, and reservations are required. Space is limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Please reply to this email or call 770.503.7757 to reserve your space.

The LLA website has been redesigned to be more user friendly in terms of navigation and finding information.

As background, the Glades project began in 2007. The proposed reservoir would have stored available natural stream flow from Flat Creek and would have been intended to supplement existing water supplies from Lake Lanier (through the City of Gainesville water system), to meet the needs of eastern and northern Hall County through the year 2060. It was to provide 6.4 million gallons per day of water.

In 2009 Federal Administrative Law Judge Paul Magnusson issued a ruling as part of the Tri-States water war litigation that Lake Lanier was not authorized to provide water supply for North Georgia and the city of Atlanta which was subsequently overturned by the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals. In spite of that ruling, the Glades project grew from 6.4 MGD to 80 MGD.

Today, the plan is for an 850-acre reservoir that will be used to augment the flow to the Cedar Creek Reservoir during periods of low flow. Nominally at its maximum capacity, 80 MGD will be withdrawn directly from the Chattahoochee to supply water to the Cedar Creek Reservoir in Hall County only.

As we understand it, the Glades Reservoir will only be used to “make up” inadequate flow during low flow periods. With this dramatic proposed water withdrawal from the main Lake Lanier water supply, we feel the following questions need to be considered and evaluated:

• What is the impact on Lake Lanier of taking 80 MGD from the main Lanier input river and transferring the flow to another basin (Oconee)?
• Further, the water flowing into and out of the Cedar Creek reservoir will be managed by Hall County, not the Corps of Engineers. What will the Hall County management strategy for water flows and utilization be?

The Hall County proposal estimates that the only impact on Lanier would be a reduction in the water level by 3.5 inches. We feel that an independent evaluation of this impact would provide not just an “inches average” reduction but should include the maximum impact and frequency on Lanier, which has been at 21 feet of water loss during drought conditions.

Last June the Magnusson ruling was overturned by the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals, and that decision was “en banc” supported by all 10 of the Appellate Court Judges.

We now ask, “Is it really necessary to increase the Glades project to 80 MGD, now that Lake Lanier has been validated and authorized as water supply purpose?”

North and Eastern Hall County are not the only growth areas above Lake Lanier. Habersham and White Counties will no doubt experience significant growth along with Hall County. The total impact of all of the growth on the Lake Lanier recreation economy should be evaluated.

In summary, we are convinced that a significant detailed study is needed to determine the impacts on Lanier and downstream stakeholders of creating a large diversion of the main water source for North Georgia and other water users. We will continue to study these questions and will prepare a final comment document for the Corps by April 17, 2012, as directed by the current process.

Mail-In Registration Form and Brochure for 2012 Annual LLA Golf Tournament

Your support of this program will have a direct impact on allowing Lake Lanier Association to fulfill its mandate of protecting the lake through its program of education, action and advocacy. Check out our sponsorship opportunities while there is still time to grab some excellent exposure for your business. Your entry fee includes Continental breakfast, cart rental, green fees, appreciation BBQ reception and awards, goody bags, and a chance to win great raffle prizes!