Fairfield still waiting on DNR approval to drain Walton Lake

FAIRFIELD – Work has yet to begin on the golf cart bridge at Walton Lake, despite the Fairfield City Council awarding a contract to replace the bridge four months ago.

The city is still waiting on a permit to drain the lake from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which is necessary to replace the bridge with a culvert system. On March 24, the Fairfield City Council voted to award the contract to Drish Construction to replace the bridge. In mid-June, Fairfield Public Works Director and City Engineer Melanie Carlson said she hoped to receive approval from the DNR and could then begin drawing down the lake “within a week,” but that did not happen.

Since the city first applied for the DNR permit to approve construction and drain the lake, the DNR has asked the city for further information, which is why the project has gotten delayed.

“Upon receiving comments from the public, [the DNR] involved their legal team and wanted to make sure every ‘I’ was dotted and every ‘T’ was crossed,” Carlson said. “The DNR legal team felt they needed answers to these questions before they could issue a drawdown permit.”

The DNR sent the city a list of questions to answer on May 30, and then after receiving answers, sent another round of questions on June 13. The agency requested information about the ecological impact of temporarily lowering the lake, how the city would mitigate damages from lowering the lake including cleaning up a potential fish kill, and describe any plans for future lake restoration.

In a memo shared with the Fairfield City Council for its meeting Aug. 11, Carlson stated that she reached out to Drish Construction in late June to ask if the project could be completed in the fall when irrigation for the golf course was not as critical, and Drish representatives indicated they would not voluntarily delay the project due to other commitments. The two sides discussed an alternative construction method of using rock or broken concrete rather than dirt, which meant the project could be done faster since it wouldn’t require waiting for the bottom to dry, and the lake wouldn’t have to be lowered as much. However, Carlson said she later learned that the cost of this alternative was much higher than expected, about $175,000 more than the original project cost of $194,000.

Carlson said that if the project is delayed beyond Aug. 18, Drish could request additional funds under the contract, though the city would not have to grant the request necessarily, and would depend on whether Drish could justify the need for additional funds with documentation. Carlson also added that, if the project is pushed into next year, she expects Drish will file a change order for more funds.

“As long as the project happens this calendar year, I would not expect a change,” Carlson said.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com