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Wayzata/Orono/Long Lake Sun •Sailor —Wed.. Oct. 28, 1992—ISA <br />First part of Gleason Lake project to start this <br />Wayzata residents and <br />downtown businesses affect^ <br />by flooding from Gleason I^ke <br />still have a long wait before Uiey <br />will experience any relief. <br />Construction of a new dam <br />designed to relieve flooding is <br />set to begin this winter but W’on’t <br />be completed for up to two <br />years, said Ellen Klanderman, <br />coordinator of the Minnehaha <br />Creek Watershed District <br />(MCWD). <br />Phase I of the project includes <br />a new uam wnere <br />Gleason Lake flows into Gleason <br />Creek, and constructing new <br />holding ponds just south of tlie <br />lake. <br />The goal is to minimize the <br />flooding problems experienced <br />by residents in the Glenbrook <br />neighborhood and downtown <br />areas of Wayzata as the creek <br />flows south into Lake <br />Minnetonka. <br />T^e creek itself is actually a <br />series of ditches and pipes tiiat <br />funnel water around houses and <br />parking lots that have been built <br />original creek. <br />Between now and this winter, <br />the MCWD plans to get the need­ <br />ed easements to build the new <br />holding ponds, said MCWD <br />Manager Thomas LaBounty. <br />Once the dam at Gleason Lake <br />is completed, it will allow the <br />lake to temporarily hold more <br />water after a heavy rainfall. <br />“That will slow (the flooding) <br />down quite a bit,” I^Bounty <br />said. <br />The dam will not cause Uie <br />normal water level of the lake to <br />change, he said. <br />“We’re regulating the <br />discharge, not how much is <br />stored there,” he said. <br />In ad^tion, the new holding <br />ponds will act as storage for ex­ <br />cess water. They will also serve <br />to help clean the water before it <br />reaches Lake Minnetonka by <br />allowing impurities to settle, he <br />said. <br />winter <br />ft <br />Also in Phase I, another <br />holding pond will be built closer <br />to Lake Minnetonka to collect <br />Gleason Creek runoff from <br />streets and parking lots in <br />downtown Wayzata and to help <br />cleanse the water of impurities, <br />LaBounty s‘'’d. <br />The MCWT) board of <br />managers is currently working <br />on the development of Phase II, <br />which will focus on water com­ <br />ing into Gleason Lake from the <br />north, LaBounty said. <br />The board agreed in August to <br />pay $1.48 million of the $2.41 <br />million Gleason Lake project. <br />The city of Wa)rzata will pay the <br />remai^g $930,000 through fees <br />from its storm-water drainage <br />utility. <br />The city sought MCWD fun­ <br />ding because the flooding pro­ <br />blems are caused by runoff not <br />only from Wayzata, but also <br />from Minnetonka and <br />Plymouth.