City Council voted 9-0 last night to name the soon-to-be-built bridge at Forest Hill Park Lake after the Harvey Family who were murdered January 1, 2006. In a separate matter they also approved the use of property at Canoe Run to be used for new fire house. via RTD

This fine logo was created by yours truly in about 10 minutes.

What Yacht Club?
Forest Hill Neighborhood Association (FHNA) has invented the Forest Hill Yacht Club to celebrate the lake renovations in Forest Hill Park, which are expected to be completed later this spring. This “imaginary” organization was founded to raise awareness of Forest Hill neighbor­hood and the park, to foster a sense of community across all South Bank neighborhoods, to raise funds for native plantings in Forest Hill Park, to encourage wholesome activities in the park, and for just plain fun!

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I would think it was obvious but received a press release from the Department of Parks, Recreation & Community Facilities warning folks to stay of the local lakes including Forest Hill Park Lake. Signs are going up around the three lakes at Byrd Park, the Azalea Garden Pond and Young’s Pond at Bryan Park, and the lake at Forest Hill Park. My faith in people’s stupidity leads me to believe that we will read or see on the news someone falling in shortly. Hopefully it won’t be a tragic mistake the victim makes, only a wet one.
Read the press release.

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This wonderful photo was taken by Phil Riggan. This and others showing off the icy wonder of Forest Hill Park are posted on his blog RichmondOnTheJames be sure to check out the other photos. Great stuff thanks for sharing Phil.

Thanks also to John M. of CHPN for pointing them out to me.

As head of the Richmond park system, J.R. Pope has been overseeing the revitalization of Forest Hill Park Lake. If you’ve ever gotten a chance to hear the excitement in his voice when he’s talking about our parks, you know that he’s in it for the right reasons. He was profiled in RTD today:

He has a big imagination. He sees the eventual restoration of the historic Pump House as a visitors interpretative center and community venue. He can envision a reflecting pond in front of the Carillon, where one was planned but never built decades ago. He wants to restore two silted ponds in Bryan Park.

David Hathcock headed down to the lake and has these thoughts and photos for us. Thanks David.

Just another perfect day at the lake. The cooler air pulls mist up to wrap around the trees, draped in autumn. The colors portend the dying of the light for the year, and the natural inhabitants of the lake (humans and dogs) are enjoying the last great days before winter. Work continues as crews thin the underbrush, and pile the dead and dying vegetation to make room for the new plantings.

The headline from RTD says it all, “Forest Hill lake project finished under budget, early”. Much of this is not news to our faithful readers but nice to read.

Richmond finished the $1.7 million project with about $145,000 left in the bank, though some work remains to be done. New benches will be installed around the three-acre lake, along with new decorative lights. Views from the hill over the lake will be cleared and a footbridge installed over Reedy Creek to replace one that washed away five years ago. All of those improvements already are budgeted.

Debra McClane let me know that the new lamps should be going up in 3-4 weeks. Benches should follow. Repaving of the roadways is going to happen but no firm timeline is set. The bridge that was discussed here and here is in procurement so no timeline on that either but the wheels are moving so that is a good sign.

I am going to wrap this up with the following bits from the aritcle.

City officials plan to celebrate the lake’s restoration in the spring, but that doesn’t mean local residents have to wait to enjoy a treasure that many didn’t know they had.

“A whole generation has come up that didn’t know a lake was down there,” said Jonet Prevost-White, an engineer in the Richmond Department of Community Development. “They should know not only that a lake is down there, but how pretty it is.”

This is the last in our series of Lake Restoration Photos. Thanks to David Hathcock  for keeping us all informed through his images and words.

We began this journey in May, when reeds and marsh grasses choked the historic old lake, the remnant of 30 years of neglect (See kathygraziano.com for full archive). We traveled the path through the summer when great yellow machines growled and chewed their way through the silt of 30 years, often as deep as 12 feet. We saw the lake bed exposed, cleaned and reshaped, new drainage basins created and lined with stone, new walls wrapped around the lake, and new grasses and trees planted.

Today we approach the end of the journey, while the greens of lake summer still color the hills but the coat of many colors that is autumn in Virginia begins to be reflected in the lake.  The deer and the ducks are back, the heron fishes in shallow water.

We began this journey as a promise to Richmond that this great project, this commitment to our future, would not be ignored, that it would be documented.

Now the restoration is essentially done, and the Mobile Dredging equipment and crews are on their way out of town. It is to city crews to finish the work, to restore and replace benches and shelters, to replace the historic lights around the lake and the paths.

This will mark the end of our weekly visit to the lake to document the progress.  We will still visit from time to time.

The Department of Parks has given us back our lake and our park. It is up to us to keep it.

A slide show follows that has both the first batch of photos and the last batch of photos.

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The past two days have been good only for ducks and tree planters, and we had both at Forest Hill Lake.  Contractors are planting about 400 native specie trees, including spice bush and river birch at the wetlands area at the south end of the park.  Water grasses have been planted on the shelf that will be under water shortly.  Forest Hill Lake is within a foot of being at its optimum level, thanks to the rains of October.  By Friday, at least five ducks have returned, and you may be able to pick out in one photo the tracks of a moderately large deer. For all those who waited with anticipation, the result is going to be worthy of the effort.

This special edition was brought to by David Hathcock and the pictures were taken on Friday.

The early mornings may have a chill, but down by the lake it is still the lushness of summer.  The arrogance of the heron has returned. Mobile Dredging has completed the shaping of the lake to its new contours.  Masons are scheduled to rebuild the stone wall where possible, and where the wall is too damaged for repairs, a necklace of grey granite, right-sized to match the old stone, is being put in place. Within two weeks, the lake will be refilled, from Reedy Creek and the springs that enter. Soon the wetlands plantings will be put in place. The uplands at the south of the lake will be reseeded in the coming days.

Report and pictures courtesy of David Hathcock, thanks David.

Update and photos courtesy of David Hathcock. Thanks David.

The big beasts were sleeping later this morning, as crews continue to work on the fine tune of the excavation.  Some of the remaining stone wall is being uncovered, and Reedy Creek is back within its historic walls.  The heron has returned to his (or her) habitat in the upper creek.  While it appears that the contractors will have finished their work within the next month or six weeks, we are now told that the rededication may be delayed well into next year because of an interdepartmental dispute over restoration/replacement of the lights around the lake.  Some of us are still planning a “Welcome Back”
celebration for the lake in January, so we’ll notify you when, so you can come down, have coffee or hot chocolate and admire what has been one of the most successful projects undertaken in the city in many years. This was not a disaster response like Battery Park.  This was a planned restoration, and it involved some careful planning from an engineering standpoint, plus neighborhood involvement.  The lake was even designed to serve as a stormwater retention basin for the entire Reedy Creek drainage, and will serve as a blueprint for how our lake system can serve as regional components of a stormwater management plan.

From a personal standpoint, I have been coming to the lake since I moved to Richmond in 1982.  I am seeing features I have never seen before.

Weekly photos and report courtesy of David Hathcock.

Early morning at Forest Hill Lake, the grunts and chirps from around the lake sound like Pleistocene awakenings. The Mud Cats are busy running up and down the hill, and across the hard lake bottom. The last bit of excavation is the construction of two fore bays to collect silt washing into the lake and to redirect the flow of Reedy Creek to prevent erosion
damage in the future. The swamp base is going in, and the uplands area at the south end of the lake is being dressed with topsoil. Both the upland area and the new marshland will eventually be planted with appropriate vegetation. Some of the stone walls will be rebuilt, while other portions will be replaced with rip-rap. Eventually new benchesand lights will complete the work. I’m still expecting to have HOT CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE BY THE LAKE in January.

It’s time for our weekly update on Forest Hill Lake from David Hathcock. Thanks David.

Almost finished with the hauling out. Engineers are completing the retention basins that will prevent the lake from re-silting in the future and make maintenance easier. When that is complete, residents will see trucks bringing in large rocks to rebuild the lake and its borders. Meanwhile the Vermeer SC 60 TX, a large remotely-controlled stump grinder, is grinding stumps in the upper end, as it is supposed to do.

Thanks to David Hathcock for the following update and pictures.

Tuesday, Sept 8. What the Irish would call a “soft” day. The rest of us would call it wet. Ducks would call it wet. But when one walks down to hill to the lake…the lake is back. The work is unfinished, and the outlines need to be refined, but the lake is back. The historic Forest Hill Lake is back within its boundaries. Reedy Creek is flowing strongly into the lake, and the overflow valve is sending water down to the river. The gazebo peninsula is redefined to its historic shape.

And today is the day (Tuesday) J. R. Pope comes back to work after knee replacement. Welcome back, and thanks for giving us our lake back. Thanks to all who have worked and waited on this project.

We’ve been following the progress of the Forest Hill Lake restoration project here on H&H. And now the RTD is reporting that the project may finish up ahead of schedule, despite the sometimes heavy rain and sporadic vandalism. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

About one week’s worth of excavation remains to be done, once the Ohio-based dredging crew returns to work next week after the Labor Day holiday. The work then will focus on restoring many of the historic features that have been lost for years under accumulating mud and marshland.

Update and pictures from David Hathcock, thanks for keeping us informed on the restoration.

Several story lines this week. This week crews are removing logs from the lake site, some that were down and dead, some that needed to be removed. The log removal, and the removal of the last loads of soil should be completed by the end of next week. The dredging and hauling should be completed. Next, the contractors will be restoring the lake to its historic depth and contours, uncovering and protecting stone walls around the lake.

The bad news is that overnight August 31st, vandals at the dam damaged some of the mechanism of the drainage system. You will see Erin Ziegler in the water manually removing debris so the water level can be lowered. The vandalism will not stop the progress being made. One of the most interesting things today is that the historic bed of Reedy Creek, where it flows into the historic lake, has been uncovered. This rock lentil has not been visible for many years, and after the work is complete, will again be under water. The old stream bed can clearly be seen.

So, some time in the few days, a hallmark will be reached. The final truck loads of trees and soil will be gone from the site. Then trucks will begin to haul rock into the site to rebuild the contours of the lake and the stone walls.

Good news, and good work by Marine Mobile Dredging.

Latest update from David Hathcock:
You don’t have to have a hurricane to have a flood.

The rain over the weekend caused serious flooding at Forest Hill Lake. Even though the 71 year old control valve was open, the water rose to such a level that it overflowed the top of the dam/causeway. You can see around the edges how high the water was around a park bench. The flood also provided ample evidence of how much litter is in the Reedy Creek basin, because it all ends up in the lake.

How much flood, just from a rainfall? If my math is right, 6 inches of rain over a 100-acre drain area means 12.5 feet of water in a four acre lake. If you saw the footage on Channel 12 of the flooding on Midlothian turnpike, all that water ultimately comes to Forest Hill Lake.

Thanks as always to David for providing us this weekly update of the lake process.

Thanks as always to David Hathcock for the photos and update, pictures are from 8/18. If you don’t know Forest Hill Lake well, it’s difficult to get a perspective from some of the photographs. The dredge work has not progressed south until it is even or further south than the gazebo. The dredge work has reached a hard floor, and the large trucks are able to drive across the lake bed fully loaded.

Thanks as always to David Hathcock for the photos and update, pictures are from 8/11. Probably about 55-60% completed with the dredging, and the project is really moving ahead. The old stone walls around the historic lake are beginning to be uncovered, and the gazebo is being rescued. There are bull frogs still in the wet areas, and fresh deer tracks. Still some (trespassing) walkers. Looking ahead, the contours will be restored, stone walls resurrected or restored, a new bridge constructed at the
south end across Reed Creek, new/replica lights restored, new/restored benches and shelters. I propose hot chocolate in the gazebo in January/February.

Previous photos can be found here.

Pictures were taking on August 4th and thanks as always to David Hathcock fro sending them our way. Mobile Dredging has really taken advantage of the dry weather the past few days. I realize that it is raining now as I post this but at least it isn’t a downpour and I am sure the workers are enjoying the cooler temperatures. They have moved an amazing amount of material out, and the historic confines of the lake are really beginning to take shape. Remember, this is still a construction zone, and is off-limits to the public.

Last night I attended the first Town Hall meeting held by Mayor Dwight C. Jones at the Southside Community Center located in the Southside Plaza. It was standing room only as over 200 crowded the meeting room. The room was flanked by tables of  what appeared to be every city department each with a representative ready to answer questions.

The meeting started with a representative from Census 2010 speaking on the importance of participation so that the city can receive federal money. The Mayor then gave a speech short on specifics, that focused on bringing people together and working with each other. He was interrupted frequently by applause and set a tone that was overwhelmingly positive. Forest Hill Lake restoration was one example mentioned of successes in the city. I also was interested when he stated that the city will be opening a Health Center at George Wythe High School. No details on what defines a “Health Center” just that George Wythe would have one.

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Not as dramatic this week, but work is progressing well, under the supervision of the resident heron.  Crews are beginning to cut a channel up the east side of the lake.  It is noteworthy to see the care the contractors are taking with their work.  They have a mud/silt barrier up, they are working steadily to keep all the work area clean and safe. At the end of the day, we will have a restored lake, with a healthy environment, and a great resource for the city.Report and photos from David Hathcock  on 7/21. Previous Pictures

The big storm on Sunday did us no favors but progress continues. Pictures were taken 7/14 thanks to David Hathcock. Previous pictures here.

Despite the rain and vandals good progress is being made and the project is about 15-20% done. Thanks to David Hathcock for providing the pictures. Pictures were taken on the July 7th and now are presented in an exciting slide show format.

Previous pictures here.

Some bad news from the construction site of the ongoing Forest Hill Lake restoration. On Tuesday evening someone went onto the site and broke the windshield of one of the vehicles. Police have been notified and hopefully patrols will be stepped up and other measures taken. One bit of information that I wasn’t aware of until today is that the city will not cover the cost of the vandalism. The company that is working so hard to make our park better has to bear the full burden of the costs. If you see anyone on the site after hours that you suspect doesn’t belong there please call the police. Thanks to Debra McClane for passing this information on to us.