Scott Lake May Get Sand Plugs

LAKELAND -- Homeowners on Scott Lake are considering whether to throw up to $1 million down a hole.

A small group of Scott Lake residents heard a proposal from engineers with Ardaman & Associates on Friday that would use lots of sand to solve the private lake's sinkhole problem, Dave Curry, spokesman for lake homeowners, said Tuesday.

The plan could potentially fix the lake, which drained in June, with 70,000 cubic yards to 80,000 cubic yards of sand -- enough to fill between 45 and 50 Olympicsized swimming pools. The project would cost from $700,000 to $1 million, Curry said.

"It's kind of an expensive proposal, so I don't know if I'm going to recommend that," Curry said.

Curry said he still planned to "run it by everybody that's going to pay for it." He estimates 300 to 400 residents with access to Scott Lake could contribute.

The 285-acre lake emptied in June after four sinkholes emerged. The largest is estimated to be at least 150 feet deep and was responsible for sucking about a billion gallons of water along with fish, gators, muck and debris.

The sinkholes caused substantial damage to the back portion of one home on the lake and forced foundation work on another, Curry said.

With summer rains, the lake is refilling. Engineers, however, have said it is unclear whether Mother Nature's plug will hold.

Ardaman's sand concept could be a permanent cure. It would also probably require the blessing of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which governs the bottom of the lake.

"We could do nothing, which DEP would probably like, and (let it) fill on its own," Curry said. "Or spend $700,000 to $800,000 and see how it works. There are no guarantees. No one is going to give us a guarantee."

Pam Vazquez, spokeswoman for Florida's DEP, said no plans for Scott Lake have been submitted.

"Obviously, that sounds like a very easy answer," she said. "So we would really have to look at a plan to see if anything similar had ever been done before. I'm sure it's much more involved. There's probably a lot of science behind what they need to do."

Curry said the project would not require a coffer dam, which would have walled off the area near the deepest sinkhole and pumped water out so tests and work could be done.

The Ardaman plan calls for sand to be put in the lake bed and then see what happens. "Let it (the sand) migrate where it would migrate to," Curry said. "I think it would go down into the hole some."

Curry said there is no way of knowing how many gallons of water have been replaced by the wet, summer season. But he said the lake still needs more than 4 feet of rain to recover.

He estimates that the sinkhole caused the lake to recede about 200 feet from its banks and that 30 feet to 40 feet have come back.

Diane Lacey Allen can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7514.