The Dam Story

I believe that Wehr's Dam will be preserved, but it may cost much more than was needed. Here's how it came to pass.

By 2014, the Wildlands Conservancy was well entrenched in South Whitehall Township. The son of their chief financial officer was director of parks.  They had an ally as the president of the commissioners. The Wildlands helped design the new park master plan for Covered Bridge Park, and took the liberty of showing Wehr's Dam no longer there. The Wildlands approached the commissioners with a proposal to demolish the dam at no cost to the township.  Yours truly was in attendance, and outraged by the disregard of both history and beauty.  The dam has been a destination for generations, and it is the only location where you can see water go over a dam and under a covered bridge in one place.  The commissioners agreed to defer their decision to allow for public notice and input. An article on the meeting generated interest by other dam defenders, including descendants of the Wehr family.

The state had recently inspected the dam, and found it to be in good condition.  They identified a small crack on one face that needed to be addressed, and some bank erosion downstream that also needed attention. It is rated a low hazard dam because a failure would have no consequence or risk to people or private property.  It was originally overbuilt as a promo for the local fledging cement industry. It is a massive concrete wedge sitting on a massive concrete platform.

The Wildands commissioned a study which was intended to show how expensive repairing the dam would be.  Although the water at the foot of the dam is only a few inches deep, they even hired a scuba driver.  They presented the commissioners a report showing that it would cost close to a million dollars to restore the dam. Never mind that there was no necessity or reason to restore a low hazard scenic dam to as new condition.  While the commissioners were actually on board with demolishing the dam, by now there were political considerations. Thousands of people had rallied in defense of the dam, and over a hundred were now attending the meetings. The commissioners decided to commission their own study, again designed to encourage demolition. The new study put the cost of restoration at 600K, again unnecessarily rebuilding a portion of the low hazard dam. When the commissioners put the issue to voter referendum, they never expected the voters to approve the cost and possible tax increase. It was their plan that the voters would decide to do away with the dam, at no political consequence to themselves.

The Wildlands Conservancy started undermining the dam by sending their engineering reports to Harrisburg, which is anti-dam anyway. South Whitehall should have never condoned the Wildlands interfering with the legal status of township property.  But rather than reprimand the Wildlands,  the park director, now public works director of the township, awarded them the contract to oversee the Greenway Project in the park. 

It took me five years and three editors at the Morning Call to get a story about the dam. Although I provided the reporter with all the information, they chose to take all the inflated costs at face value. If it is naive on their part, or covering up for the Wildlands and establishment,  I do not know. There will be a new board of commissioners starting in 2022...Hopefully they will defend the dam with Harrisburg, and save the taxpayers some unnecessary expense preserving our history.

pictured above in 2014, I'm starting the fight to save our dam