Berkeley Lake Residents Approve Bond Referendum

With a final (unofficial) vote of 327 to 81, Berkeley Lake residents approved the bond referendum for the repairs to the city's dam.

It means the city can now move forward with its plans to repair the dam which was damaged in September 2009 when heavy rains caused severe cracks in the 63 year-old dam.

"I'm glad it's over," said Lois Salter, the city's mayor. "So much effort has gone into the community debate, answering questions, getting out information.  Now we can move forward towards a solution."

A solution has yet to be determined on whether to drain the lake permanently and spend $2.3 million on work to restore the streambed or move forward with repairs to the dam. The cost would be about the same, said Salter. The repairs to restore the dam as outlined by the city's engineers would keep the dam in good repair for the next 100 years.

One resident weighed in on the idea of doing away with the lake.

If the dam was not repaired, the city would not have its signature Berkeley Lake which would mean "if there's no lake then we'll have to rename the city." And that would be another issue all together for this Gwinnett community of some 2,000 citizens.