Its been a hot topic looming over community leaders heads for years now, what should be done to the Boardman River dams in Grand Traverse County? In order for the county to continue to maintain control over the fate of the dams a decision has to be reached first.
When it comes to deciding the future of the Sabin, Boardman, and Brown Bridge dams in Grand Traverse County staying in control may be the first step.
"I do believe that the county wants to keep control over the process,” said county commissioner Bruce Hopper.” The only way to do that is to go out and get a permit."
County leaders say the need for a preliminary permit comes after renewed interest from two companies interested in generating power on the river.
"We never knew we had to do this until a month ago and then all of a sudden two people started applying for these applications and you go okay what happens now? Its up to us to control the destiny for what's best for the communities,” said county commissioner Herb Lemcool.
Which ever entity holds the permit essentially holds the power of the dams for a three year period. If the decision to keep the dams is made that entity also decides who will operate them.
"They would be the energy producer at those dams,” said county commissioner Christine Maxbauer. “If the county decides to produce energy and whatever rate they charge we're stuck."
In order to make sure that doesn't happen, during Tuesday night's board meeting county commissioners voted in favor of filing for a permit in their own name.
" We want to protect Grand Traverse County taxpayers and city taxpayers. In the event we do produce energy in the future from these dams we want to be able to bid out that energy production to a company," Maxbauer said.
The county currently owns two of the three dams, because of this commissioners are confident they will be issued the permit which will help to keep the county at the head of the line.
It’s very important that we do that so we can control the destiny of what's going to happen with the dams, “Lemcool said.
Tuesday night’ s meeting only gave the green light for the county to go ahead and apply for the preliminary permit. As far as what the future holds for the three dams, only time will tell.Right now the county is looking at a number of different options for the three dams which include producing electricity, or taking the dams out altogether. A one point four million dollar study is currently underway to determine what’s in the county's best interest. Results from that study are expected in December.
