Stockbridge — Residents surrounding the Stockbridge Bowl may be impacted by emergency repairs needed to fix the dam’s right-wing wall collapse.
Stockbridge Town Administrator Michael Canales announced during the November 20 Select Board meeting that the incident requires a six-foot drawdown of Mahkeenac Lake to make the repairs. “Residents and property owners around the Bowl should expect and prepare for reduced water levels during this period,” he said.
According to Canales, part of the right wing wall fell into the lake, identifying the failed structure as being on the right when facing the dam. The town’s engineers have reviewed the site, he said, and local officials are coordinating with state departments, including the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), whose staff ordered the drawdown of the lake.
“It is a big issue,” Canales said. “We will be tackling this, then we’ll be looking at long-term improvements.” The emergency project must be performed within 30 days, he said, and a CodeRed notice about the emergency plans went out to residents who signed up for the local notification system.
Canales told The Berkshire Edge that the issue was discovered on November 18 by the town’s dam engineer during a site visit and the problem was not present during a review of the area the prior week. The drawdown began November 20, and the emergency stabilization work will take place over the next month.
“We do not yet have a definitive timeline for when normal levels will be restored,” Canales said.
Although a drawdown of the lake is not unheard of during the winter, he noted that the restoration of normal levels of the waterway “will depend on the progress of the repairs.”
“We ask the public to avoid the designated area near the dam where the wing wall failure occurred,” Canales said. “This area has been clearly marked with caution tape and posts for safety. The Town, together with our engineers and staff, is actively working to ensure the structural safety of the dam and to take all necessary steps to remediate the situation.”
Board Member Ernest “Chuck” Cardillo commented that the long-term solution to follow the emergency repairs would require an engineering design and possibly state funding for the later project. He also questioned where on the lake the six-foot drawdown will occur as the depth of some areas may be less than six feet. Canales replied that the DCR ordered the lowering level at the dam site itself.
Michael Nathan, a member of the Stockbridge Bowl Stewardship Committee (SBSC), was in attendance at the Select Board session and learned of the news. The group’s focus is to preserve and protect Lake Mahkeenac.
“Whenever we used to lower the lake, like three feet, that’s pretty much where it almost stops,” Nathan said.
Earlier in the evening, Nathan approached the dais to request a bylaw change for the SBSC, taking its membership from seven voting members and two nonvoting members to nine voting members so that all members of the group can offer a full commitment to its goals. That change will require approval at a town meeting.
