Before judge, Woodlake owner promises to 'fix the dam'
CARTHAGE, North Carolina (WTVD) -- "Are you able to hear and understand me?"
With that simple question, a Moore County judge sternly warned one of the owners of the maligned Woodlake Dam that the ownership group is officially out of chances -- after this one.
"Under oath, do you fully intend to comply with the order?" Judge James Webb asked Julie Watson, the local property manager who admitted Wednesday that she has a 50 percent stake in the property.
"Yes, we intend to fix the dam," Watson answered.
PREVIOUS STORY: WOODLAKE DAM FAILURE GOES TO COURT
A new court order signed on Wednesday demands that Watson's words - again - be put into action. According to court documents, Woodlake is required to build a temporary breach in the dam, thereby allowing a constant flow of water in the case of a major flooding event, while also leaving a solid foundation to fully rebuild the dam in the future.
Under the terms, Watson - and Woodlake's other primary owner, Illya Steiner of Hamburg, Germany - has until April 10 (25 days) to share with the NC Department of Environmental Quality firm engineering plans to build a temporary breach in the dam.
SEE THE FULL COURT ORDER HERE (.pdf)
Officials concede this would not permanently fix the dam, but it does negate any danger should there be another major rain event in the near future. Construction on those must begin within 60 days, and completed within 105 days - just in time for hurricane season.
"Our priority has always been the safety of the communities living downstream," DEQ spokeswoman Bridget Munger explained to the ABC11 I-Team. "I can absolutely say with certainty that we will be watching very closely. We will be monitoring the situation. We have boots on the ground, people in the Fayetteville region who routinely do inspections who will be out there checking."
A lawyer for the Attorney General's office told the ABC11 I-Team the new order, which was negotiated by the state with Watson, is "aggressive but reasonable."
RELATED: AGENCY ISSUES ORDER FOR WOODLAKE DAM REPAIR TO BEGIN
The attorney also promised the state would report any violation immediately to the judge, and penalties would include time in jail.
Watson refused to speak to ABC11 on camera but vowed to welcome us to Woodlake in the future (we've never met her despite several previous calls and visits before). She told the court that Steiner, her business partner and financier, visited North Carolina last fall, and is the one responsible for sending the money needed to pay for dam repairs.
Also on Wednesday, Watson told the court she had been consulting with a lawyer, Raleigh-based Brian Darer, but Steiner hasn't sent any money to pay him.
Thanks to the ABC11 I-Team, ABC11 Eyewitness News has been the only station following the saga surrounding the Woodlake Dam since Hurricane Matthew. The storm exposed the dangers of years of neglect when crews found a ruptured spillway, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents. The National Guard was called in to plug the leak with sandbags.
An ABC11 I-Team investigation revealed a history of negligence on the part of the past and current owners - German investors Ingolf Boex and Steiner, plus Watson - and a failure on the part of the DEQ to enforce the many DSOs and notices delivered during the past decade.
As the I-Team also reported, the risk of impending breach forced the DEQ and FEMA to bring in pumps to drain the lake and reduce pressure on the failing dam. The result has been the disappearance of Woodlake, which was a desired spot for waterfront properties. The lake was once home to fish, frogs, flora, fauna and many species of birds.
RELATED: WOODLAKE DAM PROBLEMS MEAN DRY, MUDDY HOME FOR SWANS
The Woodlake owner and managers have ignored repeated requests for comment.
On the same day our I-Team's report aired, Woodlake hired public relations firm Apco Worldwide to represent them. In a statement emailed to ABC11 on October 28th, spokeswoman Devyn McDonald wrote:
"The safety of Woodlake Country Club residents, members, guests and our surrounding neighbors is our top priority...The interim remedy is intended to rapidly improve the protectiveness of the dam until a final remedy is designed, permitted, and implemented. The final remedy process will require ongoing collaboration with the state regulators until a final solution is in place. We want to emphasize that throughout this process the protection of human safety and the environment are our top priorities."
The Attorney General's Office finally filed a court injunction Woodlake after Steiner and Watson ignored a state-sanctioned Dam Safety Order after the hurricane. The DSO, issued on November 17, mandated that Woodlake must have had its engineers begin work on a temporary breach of the dam begin by December 8 and be completed by December 31, 2016. Additionally, the DSO gave the dam owners 91 days from the order's issue for engineers to submit complete plans for the repair of the dam.
According to the DSO, had the conditions not been met, the owners would face fines of up to $500 a day.
A spokesperson for the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) told ABC11 that Woodlake was given five days from December 8 to provide a written response to the DEQ with an update on their plans and work.
Nothing ever happened.
Geosyntec, an international firm with field offices in Raleigh, was originally hired by Steiner to work closely with state officials to fix the maligned dam that nearly failed during Hurricane Matthew. The heroic efforts of the National Guard to sandbag the dam and save hundreds of homes downstream was one of the lasting images from the historic storm.
The firm, however, cut ties with Woodlake earlier this month. Documents obtained by the ABC11 I-Team show Steiner owed Geosyntec more than $270,000. Internal memos shown to the I-Team revealed that even Geosyntec had yet to hear from Steiner or Watson.
The Woodlake development, first built in the 1970s, has roughly 700 homes, two golf courses (only one functional), the dam (broken) and lake (drained). Property owners have been livid with the lack of communication from Watson, and the development's reluctance and/or willful ignorance to fix the dam.
"For anyone living on a lake or contemplating living on a lake - you can wind up in the same situation," David Watterson, a Woodlake resident and co-chair of the Restore Woodlake Committee, told ABC11. "It can happen to anybody, especially if dams are privately owned."
