Gov. Says No to Icenhour Overtures to Intervene in Jolly Pond Dam Closure

By WY Daily Staff Wednesday, June 10, 2009

It's closed, but people still manage to get around the barriers to Jolly Pond Dam.

Jolly Pond Road will remain closed, despite efforts to reopen the passage.

In a letter dated May 14, Gov. Tim Kaine rejected Powhatan District Supervisor Jim Icenhour’s request to either reopen the road or enforce its closing.

“Because of the additional development occurring both above and below the dam, it will be very important to maintain upgrades to prevent dam failure,” Kaine wrote. “For that reason, the State cannot ignore the need to seek permanent repairs to this aging and deteriorating dam or the safety concerns of having a road across it.”

Icenhour disagreed with Kaine’s reasoning, arguing that there is no development downstream. “The rules are a little arbitrary,” he said Wednesday. “Dam safety is designed to prevent property damage or risk to human life downstream from these dams. In this particular case, there is nothing downstream.”

The road has been closed since Feb. 2. At that time, the Department of Conservation and Recreation revoked James City County’s conditional permit to repair the dam, citing the possibility of a “sunny day failure.” The Virginia Department of Transportation then barricaded the portion of Jolly Pond Road that goes over the dam.

Icenhour’s initial letter, mailed April 15, requested that the road be either reopened or its closure be properly enforced. “Citizens living along the road have confirmed that the VDOT-installed barricades are pulled aside on a daily basis for unauthorized vehicle traffic to cross the dam,” Icenhour wrote.

He added that cyclists, joggers and hikers regularly detour around the barricades. “If the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) really believed that a “sunny day failure” was even remotely possible, it would be taking extraordinary measures to ensure no one crosses the dam under any circumstances.”

Kaine’s letter indicates the DCR will now work with the owner and with VDOT to “ensure that all safety concerns are addressed.”

Icenhour believes the closure renders the road unsafe by extending emergency response times for the roughly 75 residents who now only have one way in and out. Residents in Bush Neck take an eight-mile detour to Centreville Road. In addition, the construction of two new schools and a development could double the population of the rural area, he said.

“There are people who live out there that, for them, police and EMS response is 10 minutes longer,” Icenhour said. “We have a whole lot of people out there who are paying the same taxes as the rest of us, but getting shortchanged on services.”

Bush Neck Farms proprieter David Brown said the road closure is hurting his fruit-picking business. “Having it closed makes it really hard for our customers who live close by and a lot of those folks are elderly and don’t want to drive that far,” he said. “A lot of people come and see the road is closed and they just turn around.”

He believes the DCR hasn’t been thorough enough in its study of the dam. “They say it’s not safe, but the older folks around here say it’s an artesian well that’s been leaking for hundreds of years,” he said.

He is now meeting with lawyers to discuss the possibility of taking legal action against the state on the basis that, according to Virginia law, he can’t be stopped from traveling through private land that he’s been going over for decades.

Icenhour will continue to seek help from the governor and plans to lobby state Sen. Tommy Norment to introduce legislation to amend the dam safety ordinances.

“I’m just going to keep talking to anyone at the state level who will work with me,” he said. “I don’t think the dam safety folks want to do that, so somebody running the government is going to have to tell them to take a more reasonable approach.”