It was an event that was 30 years in the making and now it’s a done deal. The Georgia Safe Dams agency gave its final approval Friday for the long-awaited 650-acre Lake McIntosh dam and reservoir to be constructed on the Fayette-Coweta line.

Fayette County Administrator Jack Krakeel, on receiving the official stamped approval, said the reservoir will be extremely beneficial for the future of Fayette County.

“We’re excited about this. It should carry us well into 2030 and beyond,” Krakeel said.

The 650-acre lake will be situated along portions of the west side of Peachtree City and Fayette County and will straddle the Fayette-Coweta county line once Line Creek is dammed. The majority of the surface water will be in Coweta.

Lake McIntosh is the final reservoir planned for Fayette and will cover the county’s growth into the 2030-2040 time range. Once complete and full, Lake McIntosh will provide enough water to support more than 56,000 residents, according to county data. That is expected to be sufficient for Fayette’s anticipated build-out population.

Construction is anticipated to take about three and a half years from groundbreaking until the lake is at its full level, according to county officials.

Commissioners in July approved the issue of $16.5 million in water bonds to pay for the remainder of the project. The county had previously spent approximately $7 million to purchase mitigation property, hire consultants for work on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan requirements and to begin some pre-construction work in late 2007.

Commissioners Oct. 7 at the request of Water System Director Tony Parrott approved the contact of the five firms that were pre-qualified under the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) review. The RFQ process was engaged so that when the county bids the project it does not have to spend months checking the background of the subcontractors, Parrott said.

Krakeel on Monday said the official approval letter will be sent by Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch. Once received, the county will notify the pre-qualified firms about the bidding process that will likely take 30-60 days, he said.

The firms pre-qualifying for the bid include Brad Cole Construction, Inc., Ellis Astin Grading Co., Inc., Gary’s Grading & Pipeline Co., North Georgia Concrete, Inc. and Reynolds, Inc.

login to post comments