Pond 032 Dredging Project
*For dredging project documents, click here
Pond 032 is the Lakes Management Department's name for the pond at Turtle Beach, bordered on the south by Turtle Beach Lane and on the north by Muirfield Lane. This 2.7-acre pond is the only pond on the island that is maintained at a different water level than the rest of the system and has no regular source of water. This fact is telling of the pond's history, as is its unusually shallow depth.
History When overlaying the current pond edge on a map of the island from 1863, it becomes apparent that this pond was originally an interdune wetland and that much of Atlantic Beach Court was, at one time, part of this same wetland. This would seem to indicate that little was done to change the current pond section during the development process. And this coincides with some of Bob Cowgill’s observations where he reported this area being a swamp willow dominated wetland as late as the late 1980s.
The willows were cleared out in the late 1980s and the open water condition of the pond was created. This lasted only a brief time and, by 1991, aquatic vegetation completely dominated the pond from top to bottom. Several costly herbicide treatments were required to remove this vegetative growth and then fish were stocked to keep the vegetation in check and the pond as open water.
Current Status The pond was maintained in this state with supplemental stockings of Tilapia and grass carp for nearly 10 years. Then, the prolonged drought caused salinity levels to rise in the pond resulting in the loss of nearly all the grass carp in June of 2000. In the winter of 2002-2003, temperatures dipped to 17 degrees on the island, causing the loss of a significant number of the Tilapia. This was confounded by the expansive growth of duckweed in the summer of 2003, also due to depressed numbers of Tilapia island-wide. The duckweed spread to this pond as well as 30 others around the island. But unlike the other ponds, physical removal of this floating plant was not possible due to the shallow condition of the pond, which caused the nets to become fouled in the mud.
Future Plans After the experience with the duckweed, consideration was given to excavating the pond to provide more depth and tie it in with the rest of the pond system to provide a more reliable source of water. The Lakes Management Department submitted a request to the Major Repair & Replacement Committee (MRRC) in June of 2003 for funding to conduct this work. This money was approved by the MRRC and then submitted and approved by the KICA Board of Directors for inclusion in the 2004 budget.
Work was scheduled to take place in February of 2004 but as planning progressed, problems began to arise.The proximity of some of the residences along Muirfield Lane raised concerns about the use of heavy equipment that close to these homes.
A survey was commissioned to establish the property lines and this turned up the fact that the pond was classified as a jurisdictional wetland with the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). This classification requires permit approval from ACE and the State’s Office of Coastal Resource Management (OCRM). These complications have necessitated the rescheduling of the work to the winter of 2004-2005.
Further problems arose when the project was put out to bid. Five Requests For Proposals (RFPs) were sent out to local and regional contractors. Timing apearred to be a problem and only one bid was received. And it fell outside of the amount budgeted for the project. So, the project was again put on hold.
Additional funding was secured and the project was tentatively re-scheduled for Jan-Feb 06. In the interim, the pond was reflooded with high salinity water from the pond on the 18th fairway of Turtle Point Golf Course.
Click
here for a higher resolution image of the drawing to the left
- February 14, 2008
- During the 2008 budget process, the board again approved funding for pond renovation. The project was put out to bid in October 2007, and the successful bidder was Retention Pond Services, Inc. of Wilmington, North Carolina. The renovation work began on January 21, 2008, starting with draining water from the pond and clearing vegetation from the pond edge . Sediment removal began on January 29 and is currently in progress, with completion expected by March 17, 2008. For images of the pond renovation in progress, please click here.
The following is an engineering drawing (created by Foresberg Engineering) of the proposed pond renovation.
- December 2005
- The project was put out to bid in September, and bid proposals were received in Novmber. All bids far exceeded the anticipated/budgeted amount, therefore none were accepted. The project was put on hold once more.
