By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Lake Contrary is hardly a lake anymore, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Scott Nelson who has heard about the state of the lake from area residents.
“You’re looking a weeds,” Nelson says Lake Contrary residents have complained to him. “There’re no pontoons. It’s puddle front property, not lake front property.”
Nelson acknowledges the County Commission has struggled to decide what to do about Lake Contrary which is overgrown with weeds without any visible water at the surface.
Nelson says dredging has been suggested as the obvious recourse.
“Then it’s, okay, now what are you going to do? How are you going to do it? Who is going to do it?” Nelson asks. “Because there are many options when it comes to that.”
All expensive options.
Nelson says any attempt to restore the lake would take a long time and a lot of money.
“If we were to start dredging the lake, six foot, eight foot, whatever. Pick a number,” Nelson says. “It’s three years to do it. It’s a three-year dredging season to get it done.”
Nelson estimates it would cost between $8 million and $9 million to dredge Lake Contrary.
Nelson says everyone believes there is a lake there, somewhere.
“I know that somebody said, you know, if you take that thing down six to eight feet, you’re going to hit water,” Nelson says. “Well, that’s about how much silt’s there based on core samples.”
Nelson says he would prefer to take a small part of Lake Contrary, excavate it, and see just how much silting has taken place.
Nelson says he would like to restore Lake Contrary, but wants to be careful to do it in the right way.
