Who’s really responsible for Tanglewood Lake?
Murphy – A local citizen’s concern for residents downstream from Tanglewood Lake reignited a years-long debate regarding the structural integrity of its dam.
Cherokee County officials asked state engineers to conduct a visual inspection of Tanglewood Dam last week to determine whether expected rainfall posed an “immediate emergency” requiring evacuation or other action.
An engineer with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality stopped short of suggesting whether to evacuate residents downstream from the lake because his role is limited to examining the structural integrity of the dam. However, when county leaders asked for a direct response to their concern, he said, “I would start pumping that [lake] down ... now.”
Tanglewood Lake, also known as Kawana Lake, is a manmade reservoir 15-20 feet deep, according to residents of the Tanglewood Forest subdivision. County records show the lake and other residual land from development was not sold as a property lot to homeowners. Therefore, the lake technically remains owned by Tanglewood Forest Inc., which was formed in 1974 and today has a principal office mailing address in Coral Gables, Fla.
Officials say the homeowners’ association that owned the residual land apparently no longer exists. Former members of that association are deceased, officials say, thereby obscuring legalities surrounding ownership of the lake. However, from the perspective of state officials, anyone who owns property adjoining any part of the lake and dam are considered its owners.
State officials previously inspected the dam, and for years have sent letters to property owners informing them that action must be taken to protect its structural integrity or the lake must remain dry. However, Tanglewood residents say the lake fills when it rains, and they can’t afford to fix the dam’s problems.
At a meeting atop the dam Friday morning, a state engineer said there are holes in the drainage pipe, and “there’s a significant amount of seepage at the bottom” of the dam.
All earth dams have seepage due to water movement. However, the rate of seepage must be controlled, according to experts, who say uncontrolled seepage can erode soil from the embankment or its foundation and can lead to a structural failure.
The state’s engineer said he was concerned the level of the lake would continue to rise with significant rainfall and potentially overtop the embankment or create a flash flood. One resident said she has lived there since 1986 and has never seen water overtop the dam, but she acknowledged there are problems that need to be fixed.
“To tell you the truth, we don’t have funds to fix what you’re suggesting,” she said. “We can barely fix the roads because the deeds do not require anyone to pay.”
She added that the community attempted to raise money to purchase a new drainage pipe, but “no one wants to take leadership of anything around here.”
During his inspection last week, the state engineer found “nothing really new, as far as infrastructure issues.” However, the “dam either needs to be repaired or breached. In the meantime, it needs to remain in a drained state,” he said.
County officials were involved in last week’s meeting strictly from an emergency management standpoint. Commissioner C.B. McKinnon advised Tanglewood residents to contribute a nominal amount per household to fix the problem before it becomes a liability.
“With as many homes that are in here, you could fix this problem for $500 apiece; that’s not much to have a lake in your community,” McKinnon said. “This is a private property issue, and the rest of county taxpayers shouldn’t be burdened with what’s happening here. It’s not fair for the property owners downstream to have to worry about this lake taking out their houses if this dam were to break.”
At the conclusion of last week’s meeting, some residents of Tanglewood Forest agreed to work with state officials to fix the dam’s issues.