Charlton uses betterments to repair dam and save lake

Charlton this month began work to repair a dam in order to preserve the town’s largest lake.

The project to save the 80-acre Prindle Lake was spurred by the failure of a critical dam to pass a state inspection in 2006. The state set a deadline of late 2009 for the dam’s owner, the nonprofit Santos Irrevocable Trust, to either remove the structure or repair it. According to Town Administrator Robin Craver, the trust favored dismantling the dam, but doing so would likely drain much of the lake, which includes a public beach.

While the Prindle Lake Association of homeowners were concerned that a failure or removal of the dam would create swamp-like conditions around their homes, not all were interested in taking on the financial responsibility of repairing it, according to Craver.

The town’s solution involved a home rule petition, signed into law in 2010, that authorized the town to assess betterments on Prindle Lake homes to cover the costs of repairing the dam. Craver said that the town will ultimately be responsible for dam maintenance.

In November 2011, Town Meeting authorized the town’s acquisition of the dam from the Santos Irrevocable Trust for less than $100. The following summer, Charlton issued $495,000 in bonds related to the dam.

“The special legislation was the key piece,” Craver said. “Some people were saying ‘Why doesn’t the [Prindle Lake] Association purchase the dam, and then they’ll have control of it?’ But the association had no mechanism for doing it.”