Engineer outlines four options and steep cost range for Goodrich dam

Kevin Cook of engineering firm Wade Trim presented a dam feasibility study to the Village of Goodrich Council and described four options for the village's mill‑pond dam: full removal, partial removal, rehabilitation and full replacement. “One option was to remove the dam completely and we provided uh an estimate for that of uh it was a little over 13 million and we've rounded things up to 13.5 million,” Cook said, citing the firm’s high‑end estimate and a 25% contingency to account for unknowns.

Cook said rehabilitation — the option Wade Trim listed as the village’s preferred and typically lowest‑cost path that maintains the pond — carried an updated estimate of about $2.05 million for the prioritized list of repairs and replacements. “If you put in new gates, you know, they'll last for maybe 10, 15 years before they need to be looked at again,” he said when describing how gate upgrades could extend useful life and delay larger structural work. Cook also estimated full replacement at roughly $9.5 million (about $10 million on a 50‑year life‑cycle basis).

Council members pressed on likely secondary costs. Cook warned that removal or partial removal could expose bridge foundations and require bridge redesign or reconstruction, and that lowering the water could affect nearby residential wells. He also outlined permitting complexity — Army Corps and state permits may be required — and said certain temporary construction methods (coffer dams, bypass pumping) would be necessary for some work. Cook told the council he would finalize a 40–50 page report and appendices and post the package to a shared site within weeks so members could review detailed estimates and a recommended priority list.