Editor’s note: This article was updated at 3:27 pm on June 18 to correct the year the dam problems started.
MOUNT VERNON — The Knox Cattle Company dam project, on Yauger Road, is running approximately a day and a half ahead of schedule — at least for now.
“We’re aiming to have that project done by August,” Interim City Engineer Quentin Platt said during the mayor’s bi-monthly press conference on Tuesday. “It’s been a huge effort coordinating with ODNR dam safety, as well as our designer, legal representation, the receiver and the residents in that area.”
Repair work was slated to start in mid-April and then mid-May; however, heavy rains delayed the project’s start until early this month.
Jack Harris of Intercept Management, court-appointed receiver for The Landings Property Owners Association, drafted amended declarations of building and development restrictions for the homeowners association.
The original document misstated the association’s name as The Landings Common Area Association Inc.
According to Harris’ June 3 report, he is in the process of creating draft bylaws. Once he creates the bylaws, homeowners in The Landings Phases VII and VIII will have an opportunity to comment.
After the comment period concludes, he will submit them to Knox County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Wetzel for approval.
Harris is still working on a plan to fund future dam repairs and maintenance.
18 years of noncompliance
The dam saga began in 2008, when the Ohio Department of Natural Resources notified property owners of the measures required to bring the dam into compliance.
In June 2020, at the request of ODNR, the State of Ohio filed a civil suit in Knox County Common Pleas Court. The state asked the court to declare the legal owner(s) of the Yauger Road dam.
The purpose of declaring the legal owner(s) was so that individual(s) can bring the dam into compliance with Ohio’s dam safety laws and compensate ODNR for interim risk reduction measures undertaken to protect public health and safety.
