ATOP THE DAM — From left, Austin Lakes Inc. employee Chris Westbrook; Lou Almonte, vice president of James White Construction Co.; and Bill Cable, president of Austin Lakes Inc., stand atop the newly completed dam compliance modification project at Austin Lake. The $2.5 million job improves safety and represented a reinvestment in the community, employing local contractors and personnel to do the installation. The work took place during the lake’s off season.

TORONTO — The look of Austin Lake, and the safety of its patrons, has been modernized with a $2.5 million dam compliance modification project that included construction of an emergency spillway and a new concrete parapet and walls.

The project is a testament to what oil and gas money can do for the area, including the employment of local contractors. It also represents a dramatic improvement to the quiet private lzake, as well as a safety improvement for the downstream RV sites and park.

The Austin Lake Dam was built by Austin B. Cable in the 1940s, with the lake opening in 1946 as a real estate development and a recreational park. Cable built the dam on Town Fork, a creek that flows into Yellow Creek, which flows into the Ohio River between Toronto and Wellsville, using designs by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Bill Cable, Austin’s son and president of Austin Lakes Inc., said the dam did not meet the standards set forth in the Federal Dam Act of 1970. The family business had hoped for years to bring the dam up to modern specifications, but the project was too costly.

Cable said money from Chesapeake Energy for work on Austin property provided an influx of capital to reinvest to meet current federal standards under the watchful eye of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

“It is about the safety of our guests. We are now in compliance, and, although it had not been a problem before — we survived the 2004 Ivan and Francis floods — it is very awesome to have it in compliance. Aesthetically, it looks good, and we’re especially proud that the money was reinvested locally and done by a contractor of highest renown in the Ohio Valley that my father worked for back in the day. Working with Lou Almonte of James White Construction has been stellar in providing answers to all of our questions in a timely manner and going above and beyond with engineering assistance and his eyes,” Cable said.

Austin weathered the inundation created in the wake of Tropical Storms Ivan and Francis in September 2004. The emergency action plan that was in place wasn’t considered effective anymore, and Austin Lakes Inc. hired Buckeye Engineering of Lewis Center. Engineer Joe Stock of Buckeye began a new emergency action plan and flood studies required by the ODNR.

Cable said when the ODNR reduced its demand level for a probable maximum flood by 33.5 percent, the project became feasible. The dam height impoundment had to be raised to hold an additional 5 feet of water in a flood and a 140-foot emergency spillway had to be built to handle a 100-year flood.

As part of the project, testing of the original dam showed it still was strong enough to meet specifications.

“It was done correctly back in the day and that allowed the additional construction to occur,” Bill Cable said.

The first phase design with the primary spillway was approved in the fall of 2016 by the DNR, with construction the following spring. Drawings for the second and third phases, including the emergency spillway and parapet work, were finalized as construction on the primary spillway took place. The second and third phases of work were approved in May 2017 by the DNR, with construction taking place from January to May this year. The lake was lowered by 5 feet in 2017 to prepare for the job, with boats removed earlier than usual.

The major construction was scheduled to avoid disrupting the park’s busy summer season.

James White Construction is the primary contractor, with local subcontractors including Grae Con Construction and concrete from the D.W. Dickey Concrete batch plants at East Liverpool and Steubenville.

Bill Cable noted his father had worked for James White for a time in the 1960s and 1970s.

The connections between the contractors and the lake run deep. Bill and Marsha Cable were teachers and raised their family at the lake where Bill grew up.

Marsha said John McCart, a superintendent for Grae Con, had been one of her Cub Scouts in Knoxville, and another man who worked for James White, Greg Titi, came to the lake to camp with his family when he was 6 years old. He was a former seventh-grade pupil of Bill Cable’s in the Edison Local schools. Another former seventh-grade pupil, Chris Westbrook, is now in his 40s. He is a full-time employee at Austin Lakes Inc. and served as construction manager, writing daily service reports to provide to Buckeye Engineering, as well as taking daily photos. Those reports eventually went to the ODNR.

Almonte, vice president of James White, said the need to do the project during Austin Lake’s off season provided some special planning.

There were 1,600 tons of clay hauled in for the job and compacted to add volume to the dam. The biggest factor was keeping the concrete warm as it was poured in the winter.

“The weather was the biggest factor for this project. We started in October and wanted as much earthwork as possible to be done to allow construction of the footers and to pour the walls. Once the cold hit, we had to provide continuous protection and cover all the concrete and keep it over 50 degrees during the curing period,” he said.

That involved tents and portable heaters and constant checking of thermometers by CTL Engineering, which performed concrete and soil compaction testing, with reports to the ODNR required. Portable propane heaters had to run 24 hours a day and personnel had to monitor them on weekends and overnights to be sure the concrete stayed warm.

Those who know Cable know of his quick wit, and his fun personality, so it should be no surprise that he would use a PA speaker from the deck of his home overlooking the dam to call out morning greetings and more to the people working on the dam.

He’s proud that the project represents a reinvestment of local money into a local project using local companies that employ local workers.

“There was absolutely no federal assistance on this. It is strictly from Austin Lakes Inc.,” Cable said.

Almonte said with the rainy spring, there was a big push to be sure the project was ready by Memorial Day to allow Austin Lake to meet its season, which is roughly from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year. He said the last pours of concrete for the emergency spillway came after May 28, but the lake opened.

“We open May 1 for camping, and there were these big campers coming in with cement trucks working there,” Marsha Cable said.

Almonte said Buckeye based its design on ODNR requirements to be sure the dam is functional. He and the Cables credited survey work done by Vince Dowdle for making the job go smoothly. He used an electronic scanner that collected millions of datapoints on the dam to create an digital photo of the project that coordinated with GPS in the construction equipment to help run the project.

“On the owner’s end, the functionality is about safety” for campers, swimmers and activities that revolve around the 80-acre lake, so the project was very critical, Almonte said. There were changes in the field to allow access between the beach area and the concession stand, which are on opposite ends of the dam. Those modifications, which allowed for pedestrians or ATV service vehicles to cross the dam, had to be submitted to the ODNR for approval.

There are picnic tables and seating areas along the top of the dam and all are removable in the event of an emergency.

One of the major moves for the Cables was the relocation of the small store building from the top of the dam to a nearby spot behind the dam.

“We had excess excavation material and we were able to provide additional parking,” Almonte said.

Marsha Cable said, “We had to pull all the items out of the store and they moved the building by putting it on beams and lifting it with two trackhoes.”

That happened in mid-May.

Bill Cable joked that the tables with their umbrellas atop the dam at the emergency spillway are “the dam cafe.”

“Kenny Howell, the superintendent of the job was continually making positive suggestions for the guests at Austin Lake,” Bill Cable said. Howell “wanted to take care of Miss Marsha.” Cable said she would make suggestions and the reply was “No problem. We can do that.”

Marsha Cable said Howell and another man stayed an extra couple of weekends doing finishing work to get the park open for Memorial Day.

She said work still is ongoing to find a place to reinstall the popular tube water slide.

Bill Cable calls the project “probably one of the larger projects I’ve worked on in my lifetime.”

When Marsha Cable responded, “One of the larger projects,” he responded, “I consider the 6,500 or so students I taught to be pretty big also.”