On June 6, 2024 everything changed regarding Lake Petit Dam. Lake Petit Dam has operated for the past 37 years under a 1988 Operating Permit. On June 6, 2025, a NEW Operating Permit was granted.
The New Permit comes with some very strict legal conditions. (See Section 6 – Special Conditions 6.1 – 6.24). In summary, the Dam Owner (Big Canoe POA) is required to do three very large Projects, on a very tight schedule deadline, and is required to have costly professional Engineering staff onsite during work, and is required to submit substantial & costly monthly reports. At the end we are going to circle back and explain how this changes the game.
The first of those projects (Interceptor Drains) just finished up on time (albeit 55% over budget). The second of those projects (Lower Level Outlet – LLO) is starting on time this month (with supposedly a fixed cost contract of $1.76 Million). The LLO Project is a huge deal, but more for safety factors, than the financial issue. There is still a very real “Non-Zero” chance that this LLO Project during March and April 2025 ends in catastrophic failure of Lake Petit Dam (and literally bankrupts and destroys the community of Big Canoe, GA). While insiders exude confidence, there is also substantial & realistic undercurrent of concern. But this issue is for our next article. Hopefully, the LLO Project does NOT end in disaster, and then we will all live to then go through what appears to be an unavoidable financial disaster on the third Project coming up later this year… the Spillway Project.
The Financial Trainwreck that is the Spillway Project is what this article is focused on. In our last article we presented information that suggests the POA is covering the true cost of this Spillway Project, which FOBC sources suggest could be $15 – $20+ Million dollars, and not the $6 Million the Board likes to throw out (without any support or explanation for how they arrive at that number).
So where is the money coming from? Well, it’s not, unless you factor in a giant Special Assessment (or Rate Increases) to the Property Owners. Here’s what FOBC has learned:
The POA Board has announced that they have almost $10 Million Dollars left in the Wells Fargo line of credit. They say they are planning to TRY (important word) to just tap that and put it in a big rainy day bucket by this May, which is the deadline window to draw on it. They crow very proudly that it is a fixed rate of 3.4% and that they are so smart. But not so fast… Wells Fargo hasn’t approved the reasons for the draw yet, and sources indicate that WF is already angling to deny. From a common sense standpoint this also makes sense, since at the current rate environment WF will have to borrow at higher rates, to loan to BCPOA at lower rates, way below the best rates available today. So this isn’t guaranteed, or even likely. Regardless, we’ll know shortly as the deadline to tap the loan is May 2025.
The only other apparent option to fund the Spillway appears to be begging for money from the Public Taxpayer… to fund The BCPOA’s failure to maintain it’s Private Lake. Just recently at the B.C. Fire Station it was overheard at a gathering the POA begging hard to GA Congressional Representatives (District Reps Barry Loudermilk and Rich McCormick) for Public Funds. Public Funds for our Private Lake has been extensively explored and vetted for over 2 decades by the POA. Given the current “DOGE environment” vilifying waste and fraud in the country… even a whiff of using Public Funds to Bail Out the irresponsibility of a wealthy Private Golf Community is surely political suicide... so again, this source of funding seems unlikely also. And of course… there are pesky laws against this sort of thing (again, verified through decades of attempts).
So, at the end of the day… No Funds Available, and even if the WF loan were to come through, Property Owners still will have to pay for that through increased fees, and it still won’t cover nearly all it is earmarked for. And now, circling back to the beginning as promised, let us explore why the recent NEW Lake Petit Dam Operations Permit is a Game Changer.
It is a game changer because it contains legally mandated requirements to undertake the Spillway Project, and to get it moving along ASAP. That triggers the condition of a Legal Fiduciary requirement.. which is now mandatorily reportable both to the Property Owners, and to our Auditors.
The POA has felt very comfortable lying to property owners for decades on this issue. But now legal disclosure consequences will be triggered if they continue to do so. Under certain circumstances of failing to disclose, Scott Auer and the POA Board of Directors start to potentially take on personal liability.
New Property Owners buying into this Community should likely be having this disclosed to them as well… both by the POA, and by Realtors, AND any legally required and regulated Annual Auditor’s Report.
The website FOBC exclusively set up (LakePetitDam.com) to document the Open Records and Historical documents on this dam provides 100% PROOF that this Dam has been in illegal noncompliance for decades. And the POA has known about it and kicked the can all that time. Well, for all you property owners that bought into this community without this being disclosed… Congratulations!
…the can just came to rest at your doorstep.
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
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