Rochester—Today Congressman Joe Donnelly visited the Mt. Zion Mill Pond Dam in Rochester to discuss with local officials the next steps of the project now that the remaining funds needed have been secured.
“The people of Rochester can rest a bit easier now knowing that the funding to complete reconstruction on Mt. Zion dam is there. That uncertainty is gone,” Congressman Donnelly said. “I look forward to the day when the reconstruction is complete, and I’m proud to have secured more than $728,000 in federal funds for the project since coming to Congress in 2007.”
Using federal Disaster Recovery funds appropriated by Congress to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) recently announced a $2,016,847 grant to complete the Mt. Zion dam project. As a result of previous efforts by Congressman Donnelly, the project had already received federal appropriations of $374,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, $120,000 in FY2009, and $234,192 in FY2008, for a total of $728,192.
American Structurepoint, Inc., served as Fulton County’s engineering consultant and obtained the appropriate environmental permits, designed the proposed dam and bridge, and developed the construction plans and documents. Now engineering and inspection for the bridge bid proposals and evaluation by Fulton County are complete, with bid letting scheduled for next month. Preliminary construction work could begin early next year, and construction is expected to take approximately nine months to one year.
The project is expected to be complete sometime late 2011.
The Mt. Zion Mill Pond Dam holds back 27 to 55 acres of water, depending on rainfall and flooding, and is currently in failing condition. If the repairs were not made and the dam fails, water would flow into Lake Manitou, causing a flood in a matter of minutes with little chance for evacuation or warning to its many residents. Additionally, 62 percent of the entire tax revenue for the county comes from houses and businesses located on the lake.
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