The city of Decatur Web site has an informative slide show presentation detailing the pros and cons of many of the different water storage options that have been proposed and/or discussed. The North Lake Reservoir is presented as the most cost effective option. It’s also believed that development opportunities for homes and businesses would be well suited for the North Lake area.
What I think needs to be discussed/considered before moving forward:
- Ensure that a portion of the acreage is set aside for a park/conservation area.
- Funding should come from Decatur, Forsyth, Mt. Zion and other townships in Macon County. State funding should also be sought. As it is being proposed now, Decatur water customers and ADM would be funding the project. It isn’t known yet how much ADM is willing to contribute or how much Decatur residents would have to pay. As we have learned in the past, actual costs can be considerably more than projected costs. Having Decatur residents bear the brunt of the load, when the lake would benefit the entire county, is unfair. Much of the shoreline wouldn’t even be inside of Decatur’s school district boundaries; a greater percentage of property taxes and revenue would likely be collected by our northern communities.
- Encourage “Green” housing and development. Possibly tax breaks, outside funding/aid could come into play?
The North Lake is probably the most significant project Decatur will undertake since creating Lake Decatur. If done right, it could be a positive turning point in Decatur’s history. I think it’s important to become an area wide project, because more than Decatur would benefit from the lake, however, as it is being proposed now, only Decatur would pay for it.
Here’s a link to the water resources presentation on the city’s Web site:
I agree 100% with these points. But in addition I would really like to know how much additonal water supply may be possible by accelerated dredging, the intake raise, the lake toko. And what would be our drought risk then? My reason for that is wanting to take care of what we already have (the current lake) – even if it is a bit more expensive because I do not believe the expenses take into account the TRUE long term expenses of expanding city boundaries and I just oppose urban sprawl especially in the case of declining population and much much vacant under used space inside our city.
Some of the additional expenses I believe we are seeing now due to annexation policies are need of for new fire department – North West, some of the need for powerful new radios (current do not reach that far), the need for additional water and infrasture South of town the same North West and now West….Extended range ALL city services have to cover. We still have to provide them to empty vacant areas although they sure have been cut to bone there.
Those are good points Sue. We absolutely have to make sure that Lake Decatur is taken care of – it will always be our number one, and most important, water source. I’d like to see the water quality greatly improved.
The proposed commercial development along Lake Decatur’s shores in the Nelson Park area is interesting. If it could be done in an environmentally friendly and attractive way, I’d be for it. I think there’s a lot of potential there that the city could tap into.
Taking care of what we already have, though not as seemingly impressive (like underground sewer work in the inner city), is essential for Decatur’s future.
Im concerned that the lake front development plan is to take away our ONLY lake front park and put up highrise apartments and/or other private businesses. Lake Shelbyville and clinton lake are almost all natural with public access which I think is wonderful but most of our lake is private development already. there are only tiny portions of it that are public now. I really disagree with taking the tiny portion that is currently green open space and public access and selling it to developers. They have a long way to go before they will convince me that is a good idea!!
I have the same concerns you do Sue. I’m totally against high rise apartments or taking all of the land and making it commercial. The area that I was referring to is directly south of St. Mary’s, near the sail club, not the Nelson Park boardwalk area, no way would I support more commercial development there. This is also a big reason why I want the new lake to have a conservation plan; Lake Decatur provides little in the way of public access areas and natural shoreline.
I can envision, in my mind, a cozy lodge & restaurant and small shops nestled along the shores, across from St. Mary’s. I’ve been to a lot of touristy areas, especially in the Rocky Mountains, and some of the development is cheesy but often times the newer development compliments the landscape well. We can do the same thing! But, yes, I would be totally opposed to over developing Nelson Park!
I figured you would Kris. And I am with you on that 100% on the new lake conservation area and I bet we could find a bunch that are too. The highrise was the latest I heard somewhere mentioned. While I think some of the ideas the park district has floated are kinda cool, like a fake lake swimming pool and fairy (sp) across from Nelson to Scovill – or if in anyway possilble I would love to see the old Nelson beach reopened. Springfield does it and they are down river from us!! They just have to be dirtier than we are. I hear in Chicago lake MI they dye the water blue to change the perception. I really believe our lake is pretty clean whatever – not sure though – I think it is just the appearance of a central ILL lake. But, I DO NOT want the park district to sell ANY land in this area. A lease agreement of some kind may be acceptable. But the land around the lake – especially this side of the lake – need to stay public. I am hard line there. Once it is in private hands it is in private hands.
That’s an interesting point about the land. It would be better of the Park District lease it and not sell it. I want it to remain public land too.
I mentioned the quality of the water because it’s very dirty in comparison to Lake Shelbyville and Clinton Lake. Granted after massive rainfalls it’s going to be muddy but I’d like some sort of filtration system implemented to remove a lot of the silt and gunk. A book about the early history of Decatur in the 1800′s detailed how settlers built a series of dams to filter out the mud. If they could do it in the 1800′s, surely we can do it now! It’s not rocket science. We also need state legislation to reduce top soil run off from farm land. I talked about that in another article. I’m also concerned about the industrial waste that enters Lake Decatur, the pesticides from the fields and other lovely chemicals that make up our lake. The water quality has improved over the past few years but it still needs more improving – in my opinion