PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) — Village leaders in Paw Paw have approved spending $225,000 to fix a century-old dam that breached about two weeks ago.
At a special meeting Monday, the Paw Paw Village Council unanimously voted yes on a plan to install an earthen dam that would be dry during most of the year and include an emergency spillway for heavy rain events.
That was among five options presented to the council by Mickey Bittner, an engineer with Wightman & Associates. Some of those were temporary fixes, but the one the council settled on is a long-term solution.
Photo: The plan to fix Briggs Mill Dam in Paw Paw, which breached Oct. 15, 2017 following heavy rainfall. (Oct. 30, 2017)
A portion on the south end of the dam failed on Oct. 15 after one of the largest rain events the area has seen in decades.
The village had a year from the date of the breach to submit a permit application for repair to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Bittner said. He said it should take about 30 days to construct the earthen dam after all permits are approved; it’s not yet clear how long that process may take.
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