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Council declines to provide financial support for Vestavia Lake clean out

by

Emily Featherston

After discussion during both a work session and regular meeting, the Vestavia Hills City Council voted not to enter into an agreement with the Vestavia Lake Homeowners Association (VHLA) for the removal of sediment from Vestavia Lake.

The issue was brought before the council as a unanimous-consent item after VHLA sent a request to City Manager Jeff Downes on Dec. 11, asking for financial assistance in continuing the sediment removal begun by Vestavia Country Club.

The request for $158,500 was ultimately denied unanimously by the council, but only after lengthy discussion about what is and isn’t the city’s responsibility.

Vestavia Lake, which was constructed in 1954, is roughly 5 acres of private property and sits surrounded by the 17 properties of the homeowners that own it.

At the time, the lake was built to be an amenity for future homeowners in the Vestavia Lake subdivision.

In the six decades since, however, the lake has seen significant buildup of sediment that VHLA representatives assert is due to the runoff from commercial construction and residential construction along U.S. 31 in the 341-acre watershed of the lake.

Since 1999, VHLA has measured the lakes depth and documented the increase in sediment buildup — and resulting decrease in depth — and hired geotechnical and civil engineering firms to study the site, studies they say determined that the lake serves as a “defacto retention pond” for stormwater runoff in that 341-acre area.

For that reason, the VHLA argues that the lake is more than just an amenity for homeowners to enjoy.

“The reason it was built is not the purpose that it serves today,” Vestavia Lake homeowner Tommy McCain said to the council during the consideration of the resolution presented Monday night.

But it was that purpose that the discussion hinged on, and ultimately what led councilors to vote unilaterally against providing financial aid to the association.

“I just don’t think it’s a public purpose,” said City Attorney Patrick Boone during the work session prior to the meeting.

“If I thought that the city had a legal duty … I would say that this is a public purpose,” he said, but reiterated that he did not.

His reasons were twofold, he said.

First, the Alabama constitution and rulings from the state supreme court mandate that municipalities cannot use public monies to do work on private property, unless that work serves a public purpose. However, to serve a public purpose, he argued, the court declared that the project must directly impact a large number or majority of citizens, not a small portion or delegation, and the impact cannot be remote or theoretical.

Additionally, Boone said, the supreme court has ruled that municipalities are not responsible for ensuring drainage on private property.

“I’m sorry that the lake is having problems, but from a legal standpoint I can’t advise the city that it’s a public purpose,” he said.

During discussions, McCain and other VHLA members argued that the lake does serve a greater number of citizens other than the surrounding homeowners, and therefore a public purpose, because it not only serves as a retention pond for the 341-acre watershed, but it reduces the velocity of water flowing downstream toward the Cahaba River.

If the lake fills up — which McCain said will happen if something isn’t done — that reduction in velocity will be lost, and the homeowners south of the lake will bear the brunt of the impact.

In the work session, City Councilor Paul Head commented that in his opinion, the focus of work on the lake should be on improving and repairing issues with the dam, rather than the sedimentation, and he asked if VHLA had an estimate of that cost. McCain said he didn’t, but previously VHLA representatives had estimated several hundred thousand dollars.

In the meeting, the condition of the dam came up again, as City Councilor George Pierce and  not only said he didn’t support using public funds to remove sedimentation, but that he urged the homeowners to work on the dam to fulfill the covenants on the property that state they will maintain it. Mayor Pro-Tem Rusty Weaver agreed.

“I think that the dam situation needs to be addressed,” Weaver said.

Pierce said that perhaps the VHLA should revisit whether the $500 annual fee members pay is high enough to deal with the issues they are facing.

During the public hearing for the resolution, VHLA asked if the council would consider postponing the issue until the association could assess Boone’s legal opinion and some of the points the council had raised during discussion, in order to prevent a call being made on whether the issue was of a public purpose.

Curry said he thought it was prudent to take a vote on the issue as it pertains to the request for financial assistance, and that the issue wouldn’t declare the lake a public purpose or not anyway.

Other Council Business Included:

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