Economic study’s forecast is bleak
THORNVILLE, Ohio — Buckeye Lake business owners don’t need to look further than their empty marina docks and winery patio tables to know that keeping the lake too shallow for most boating is hurting them.
A report released on Tuesday filled in the numbers for the picture they are seeing.
The report, commissioned by officials in Fairfield, Licking and Perry counties and others, predicts devastating economic losses for the Buckeye Lake region by keeping the lake shallow.
An Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman said it was unfortunate, but that officials look forward to making the lake and the dam safe and the best they can be once a new dam is built.
State officials have kept the lake at its 3-foot winter level, saying it is a safety precaution until a new dam is built. They say it could take up to five years to replace the structurally deficient 183year-old earthen dam.
Regional officials paid the Cleveland firm Silverlode Consulting $27,500 to analyze the impact on jobs and businesses as a result of keeping the lake shallow.
Silverlode President Steve Weitzner shared the report’s findings at a public meeting
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at the Buckeye Lake Winery in Thornville.
The report showed that up to 1,174 jobs were at risk, with an economic loss of up to $161.1 million over five years. Most affected would be residential construction, retailers, restaurants and recreationalvehicle parks, the report said.
There also could be up to $42.2 million in state and local taxes and fees lost in the region in the next five years, including sales and income tax, boat-registration fees, gasoline and other taxes, the report said.
Recognizing the impact of the lower water levels, Rep. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, included $1 million in the proposed state budget to boost tourism in the Buckeye Lake region.
Even after the dam is rebuilt, it is hard to say how long it will take businesses to recover, Weitzner said.
“It would probably be four to five years to get back to a normal level of business,” he said.
Besides the three counties that straddle the lake, which is about 25 miles east of Columbus, the economic-development organizations Columbus 2020 and Fairfield 33 Development Alliance and others commissioned the study.
Travis Markwood, president of the Lancaster/ Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, said the report would be shared with state officials, to convince them that some help is needed to support lake-region businesses while the dam is rebuilt.
“The ultimate goal is to create some strategic initiatives when it comes to financing — short-term capital for some of these businesses,” Markwood said. “(Now) we have a baseline to take to state legislators. It will help us prove our case.”
The help could include low-interest or zero-interest loans, or grants, to help businesses survive the next few years, he said.
The economic report follows an engineering report released last month by a firm hired by the Buckeye Lake Region Chamber of Commerce. Chamber officials refused to say how much the privately funded engineering study cost.
Paul C. Rizzo, whose Pittsburgh firm was hired by state officials in 1997 to analyze dam safety, concluded in the new report that the lake could be safely raised to 5 feet — 1 foot below the normal summer level — if changes were made to improve the flow of excess water through the Sellers Point Spillway.
Then, there could be boating, Rizzo said.
Both the economicimpact and engineering studies are meant to keep up pressure on state officials to hasten the dam project while keeping the