Rodman Dam report relays repair timeline, cost at $1.3M

By Sarah Cavacini and Daniel Egitto
Palatka Daily News
degitto@palatkadailynews.com and scavacini@palatkadailynews.com

The latest inspection – released Friday evening – of Putnam County’s controversial Rodman/Kirkpatrick Dam produced a $1.3 million estimate for refurbishing but not removing the structure. 
Architectural and engineering company Mead & Hunt began a dam inspection in August for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and recommended eight maintenance and repair items to the environmental agency. 
“No condition that requires immediate action were noted during the field inspection,” the inspection report states.
In September, piles of logs, vegetation and trash abutted the dam’s spillway, and that was the first thing on Mead & Hunt’s removal list. The company estimated getting rid of all the excess debris would cost $280,000 and should be completed by July 2023. 
Other suggestions, according to the report, include restructuring the upstream debris barrier so that does not happen again, cleaning hydraulic cylinders and dam support frames, having the structure reviewed by an engineer once the debris was removed, grouting some areas, removing a palm tree and starting “an elevation and alignment survey” to continue even after the restorations have been made. 
Documents show the repairs are estimated to cost a little more than $1.3 million, including inflation – a far cry from a Florida TaxWatch briefing released in February. 
The watchdog agency pegged the price of restoring the dam of between $4 million and $14 million.
Representative Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, said he was pleased with the estimated cost of the repairs.
On Friday, Payne said he spoke with Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton, who estimated the cost for repairs around $1.6 million. Payne said a large portion of that estimate included the cost of the debris barrier in front of Rodman Dam. 
“FDEP also indicated the repairs were within their budget,” Payne stated. 
County Commissioner Larry Harvey, the executive director of operations at Save Rodman Reservoir, a group dedicated to preserving the controversial body of water - called Friday’s report “an opportunity for the truth to be told.”
“It’s a win-win for Putnam County,” Harvey said.
Rodman Dam’s supporters point to the popularity of the reservoir and the surrounding wilderness among campers and fishermen. Environmental groups, on the other hand, have for decades advocated for breaching the dam, which stems the natural flow of the Ocklawaha River.
The St. Johns River Water Management District released survey results in November, where more than 10,000 people responded to tell the agency what they wanted to see happen to Rodman. 
The majority of respondents did not live in Putnam County – some people even responding who lived out of the country – and wanted to see the dam removed. 
Margaret Spontak, the chair of the Free the Ocklawaha River Coalition, declined to comment on Friday’s report until she’d had a chance to fully review it. But she said she’s “not surprised” the department plans on making these repairs.
“Obviously, there are dam safety concerns that we’ve been talking about for a long time,” Spontak said.
These concerns, in fact, date back 1970s and came not even one decade after construction on the Cross-Florida Barge Canal was inaugurated on Feb. 27, 1964 by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The barge canal project was abandoned but Rodman Dam still stands as a piece of the forgotten project. 
“I’m happy with the fact that (the Department of Environmental Protection) completed a report on an issue that we’ve heard so much about,” Payne said.