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Highway superintendent briefs board on Johnson Creek dam risks, temporary repairs and outreach plans
Summary
Highway Superintendent Arthur Marcos reviewed an Emergency Action Plan for the Johnson Creek / Salem Street dam, described temporary repairs paid from Chapter 90, warned the dam remains a ‘‘significant hazard’’ and urged annual resident outreach and longer‑term funding options including removal grants; no formal action to repair or remove was taken.
Arthur Marcos, Groveland's highway superintendent, told the select board the Johnson Creek (Salem Street) dam is classified by the state as a "significant hazard potential dam" and described the earthen embankment's known structural deficiencies, including a collapsed corrugated metal pipe and subsurface voids.
"This dam was constructed in 1913...the impoundment is an earthen embankment," Marcos said in the town hall presentation, and he walked the board through a recent inspection history and a worst‑case video from another town that suffered a similar collapse.
Marcos said the town performed temporary repairs in 2025 — including installing a structural sleeve and stone abutment — and used about $150,000 from Chapter 90 (paving) funds to stabilize the site. "We did a temporary repair," Marcos said, adding the liner is designed to last roughly 30 years but that the classification as 'significant hazard' remains in place.
Board members and conservation volunteers pressed Marcos on two near‑term priorities: timely notifications to downstream residents and a tabletop exercise with police and fire. A member noted the EAP recommends an annual public meeting for downstream homeowners; Marcos said that outreach has not been consistently done and that the town should either follow the EAP's meeting recommendation or amend the plan to use an annual mailed notice.
Marcos also summarized potential long‑term paths: continued repairs; full replacement; or dam removal and replacement with a culvert. He said the state and federal grant programs tend to favor removal of obsolete dams for ecological reasons and that grant funding may be available, but he cautioned such projects are complex and can take years. "These grants often want removal and many of them are aimed at removing old historic dams," he said.
Rebecca, the town administrator, said the town will publish EAP materials and the consultant's detailed reports on the project's online project page and can use those resources to notify residents. Marcos and board members agreed to pursue both direct outreach (letters and neighborhood meetings) and coordination with utilities and state agencies to ensure emergency procedures are well understood.
The presentation closed without a vote to pursue a specific construction project; the EAP review was informational and intended to prompt community outreach, continued inspections, and work with consultants and grant programs on a longer timetable.
