Days after New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan announced the city was undertaking emergency maintenance at a low-head dam in Silver Creek, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources stopped that work.
The agency also issued the mayor with an infraction for authorizing the work without a permit.
A Friday news release stated Gahan had authorized “emergency maintenance to be conducted at the site to eliminate the hydraulic roller effect caused by the current condition of the dam,” it reads.
That came amid three years of challenges by the city to remove the low-head dam and two months after 14-year-old Andre “AJ” Edwards, Jr. drowned in the creek. His family has publicly called for the dam to be taken down. His mother is also seeking $700,000 in damages from the city for her son’s death.
State and national organizations say low-head dams can be deadly.
LPM News observed a local recycling company in the area of the Providence Mill Dam, also known as the Glenwood Park Dam, Friday, though they were not doing work at the time.
Tuesday afternoon, there was activity involving heavy machinery though it’s unclear who was doing that work.
The dam is at Silver Creek Landing, a city-sponsored recreational project.
A spokesperson for Indiana DNR said Tuesday they had not issued an emergency permit but were aware of the work and looking into it. Hours later, DNR communications director Holly Lawson sent a statement saying that they’d asked workers to stop placement of fill material in the area and that Gahan had been given the infraction.
The statement says that under Indiana’s Flood Control Act, construction cannot be done in a floodway without permitting from the state, and that New Albany didn’t have that.
“Unauthorized work, including placing fill [or] rock in the floodway can lead to upstream flooding and create additional public safety issues if not properly constructed,” it reads, in part.
A class B infraction can be given to “any ‘person who knowingly fails to comply’ with the permit statute for unauthorized construction in a floodway,” according to the DNR statement. It is a civil action that could include a financial judgment of up to $1,000, under state law.
The dam’s removal is part of the plans for the more than 430-acre Origin Park in Southern Indiana. River Heritage Conservancy oversees those plans and wants to take out the more than 100-year-old structure to make the creek safer.
A contractor for the conservancy secured a permit from Indiana DNR in 2021 to remove it.
Gahan’s administration has challenged that removal at the state and local level. He’s said the six-foot-tall structure has historical significance, and also cited recreational and ecological concerns if it’s removed. He’s proposed modification plans instead.
City engineer Larry Summers estimated that the project could cost $500,000 to $700,000 and take up to two-and-a-half years, including the permitting process. He spoke about it at a New Albany City Council meeting last month, adding that the city would reapply for a modification permit after being denied by DNR last year.
It’s not clear if the city’s emergency maintenance overlaps with modification plans. A request for comment from the city was not returned by publication.
During a New Albany City Council meeting Monday, member Louise Gohmann said she was unaware of the emergency maintenance until she read a local news article about it. She also questioned whether the city had obtained a permit from DNR before starting.
Gohmann and member Scott Blair spoke in favor of the dam’s removal.
City spokesperson Mike Hall told the council Monday the project was “progressing very smoothly,” and that the city would be providing “further updates to the council and city residents as the work completes.”
A Floyd County judge is expected to hear arguments Thursday in one of the cases brought by the city locally. The city is asking the judge to revisit another judge’s decision last year which found the permit complies with state statute.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
