Guild Pond Dam temp fix expensive

The Norwood Conservation Commission (ConCom) met recently and voted to continue discussion on the proposed temporary fixes to the broken dam at Guild Pond opposite Willett Pond and adjacent to the Norwood Sportsmen’s Association.

The pond has been traditionally used for fishing and boating by the club, and the dam was there to help regulate the water levels to make those activities possible. Over the years, the dam has failed at least a few times, and since then Town Meeting voted to allow $200,000 be spent on a study to figure out how to permanently fix the dam.

But that’s another two-and-a-half years away – at least for a fix – and so the ConCom contracted with Pare Engineering Group to figure out if they could find something a little more immediate, even if a little less permanent.

Conservation Agent Carly Rocklen said Pare presented two options: one for a sandbag dam and one for a concrete block dam. Both options ran up serious money --between $166,000 and $293,000 for the sandbags and $185,000 and $323,000 for the concrete blocks. ConCom Vice Chair Catherine Walsh said she had serious problems with this, especially since there wasn’t really much of a plan presented to account for those costs in what they were given.

For example, the sandbag dam had an expected lifespan of about two-to-three years. Rocklen said, when asked, that the concrete blocks would have a “longer lifespan” and be “more resilient than sandbags.”

“I mean upwards of $300,000 is a lot to spend for two-to-three years of life,” Walsh said.

ConCom Chair Kelsey Quinlan asked Norwood Sportsmen’s Association President Allan Howard and Secretary Mike Regan about the current state of the sandbags the club put in last spring. Regan said it’s tough to tell, exactly, how the new sandbags are holding up, because they’re not the only element in the equation.

“It’s a good question, because we’ve got a little bit of a mix of what’s there right now. We salvaged what we could last winter, and so there are probably at least a dozen bags on the edge,” he said. “But what we did this time is, one of the guys in the club mentioned koi ponds, and how they have rubber things down, and so we put this rubber thing down over the sand bags. That will keep them from being exposed to sunlight, which can really eat up that type of stuff, and that’s really providing a significant benefit to it, but I guess this winter will be another test.”

Walsh said, from what she gathered, that the real cost differential in the presentation of the options is that of water control. Regan and Howard said they just want to keep the pond filled enough to have fish and boating, and Rocklen said the pond has been determined by the state Department of Environmental Protection to not be necessary for flood control, as Ellis Pond can handle any water overflow Guild can throw at it.

Regan and Howard also balked at the estimated costs, especially considering how cheaply the club and the Department of Public Works (DPW) put in the temporary sandbags holding the pond up right now. Howard also pointed out that they might have a limited window for this temporary fix, as erosion is causing the nature of the problem to change and the shoreline to move.

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Regan also pointed out that while, as Howard put it, the visible portion of the dam is rubble, the foundation concrete block underneath is still there and pretty stable. He felt that if Pare missed that block, that might account for the hefty price tag, and it may not need to be that expensive. Both Howard and Regan said they felt the club going in and placing sandbags would continue to be cheaper than the two proposed options from Pare.

Walsh said, initially at least, she felt the Pare solution, even the sandbag solution, would be engineered and would be more likely to last longer. Howard and Regan said they had a retired engineer, a member of the club, place the sandbags. But the pair said their main concern is to be ready for the fishing derby in May.

Quinlan said they would meet again at least before March to figure out any bracing and maintenance to the current sandbags out there before the derby.

The ConCom agreed that more information from Pare about their options was necessary and voted to continue the discussion to a meeting when they can get a representative from the company in.