If dredging Lakes Elkhorn and Kittamaqundi required 100 steps, the Columbia Association would have completed one step.
“It?s going to be at least a year before they even start dredging,” said Chick Rhodehamel, vice president of open space management for the Columbia Association.
The association?s board has hired consultants to design a dredging plan for the man-made lakes, which are overloaded with silt resulting in the lakes being only 1 foot in some areas.
A plan must be approved on the state, federal and county level. Little Patuxent River, which feeds into the lakes, must be protected in the plan.
“It?s increasingly expensive to dredge lakes, because the silt has to be trucked to land that can accept it. There is very little of that land. The cost of dredging has gone up tremendously,” said Jud Malone, former association board member and a resident of Waters Edge, a community that overlooks Lake Kittamaqundi in the Town Center.
So far, funding for both projects is set at:
? About $11 million from the association;
? About $100,000 from the county;
? $475,000 from the state.
For many residents, the dredging is long overdue.
“The village board has asked for maintenance of the lake for a number of years in its annual request. We knew how expensive it was,” said Town Center Village Manager Patricia Laidig.
Anna Phillips, a Waters Edge resident, said less people from her community visit Lake Kittamaqundi these days.
“When I first moved here a few years ago, the water was so clear. People could see the water from their homes. Now it?s all cloudy, and nothing happens there,” she said.
