Allegan receives $1 million to repair 'high hazard' city dam
ALLEGAN, Mich. — Funding to repair a century-old dam is on the way to Allegan.
Out of a total grant award worth $1.8 million, the City of Allegan received $1 million to help repair the Allegan City Dam, a "high hazard" dam in poor condition, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE, on May 6.
"There are some improvements you know that have to be made to the dam specifically," Allegan City Manager Joel Dye said Wednesday. "Specifically our stop logs which is a part of the dam that holds back the water they need to be replaced, and a catwalk that we utilize to access the stop logs on the southside of the river bank needs to be replaced."
Despite the $1 million grant, the total cost of the project is $2.8 million, according to Dye.
This means the city is going to have to "go back to the drawing board," Dye said.
"We've reached out to the state to let them know that we need to figure out a different path forward," according to Dye. "The main focus for us is the stop logs. The catwalk also needs to be replaced, but the stop logs are the #1 priority."
He continued, "If the stop logs you know give out then the water will move more freely through the dam resulting in a reduced riverfront like we have in our downtown right now that's a concern of ours also the Kalamazoo river is a superfund site so the riverbed is contaminated with PCBs and that could you know result in PCBs you know travelling further downstream."
As of Wednesday, the city is going through a process with federal partners to remove the dam along the Kalamazoo river, but the city is also working to ensure the dam stays in working condition so long as they have it, according to Dye.
"3 or 4 years ago this city came to an agreement to remove the dam, if and when the funding becomes available, so we're going through that process right now," Dye said. "So what we're looking at is doing design work and starting rehab construction next year."