Blewett Falls Lake: Power company blocks access

By John Myers, Internet Photojournalist
Blewett Falls Lake may be the largest undeveloped land-locked lake on the east coast.

View of Blewett Falls Lake from the Richmond County side, looking across the Pee Dee River toward the Anson County side. The house on the Anson side is in Spencer Pointe subdivision, one of the few homes on either side of the lake.

What would the economic impact be on Richmond County if it were to be developed?
A comparison of property values on Blewett Falls to the next two lakes on the Pee Dee River, Lake Tillery and Badin Lake upstream in Montgomery County, is quite revealing.
Tax values of Montgomery's properties in the townships bordering on Tillery and Badin for 2002 total $410 million. Richmond's tax values in the two townships bordering Blewett Falls total $41 million for 2002. That 10-to-1 ratio reveals the potential for economic development impact on Richmond County if homes could be built on Blewett Falls Lake.
The banks of Tillery and Badin are virtually fully developed, with homes and piers an unbroken line along the banks of those two lakes. Blewett Falls is still relatively barren.
On the 27 miles of shoreline on the Richmond County side of the lake on the Pee Dee River, only nine houses have been built, all of those in the Grassy Islands area on the northern end of the lake -- undoubtedly the least desirable building area on the lake.
And seven of those nine were built in the past 15 years, none with a pier on the lake.

Access moratorium

Why? Because Progress Energy, owner and operator of Blewett Falls dam and power plant, has enforced a moratorium on waterfront access leases at least since the 1950s.
Blewett Falls dam and power plant was built in 1905-12 by Carolina Power & Light Co., now Progress Energy, and the company has since acquired rights to all land on the lake created by the dam from the high-water mark of the 100-year floodplain to the shoreline.
Lakefront property owners must obtain a waterfront access lease from Progress Energy in order to build a pier or use the property from the high-water mark to the shoreline.

View of Blewett Falls Lake from the northern Richmond County side, looking at the area known as Grassy Islands.

Progress Energy has only two existing waterfront access leases on the Richmond side of Blewett Falls Lake, both of which expire in 2008. They were part of an out-of-court settlement in a land dispute with two Richmond landowners in the Grassy Islands area.
And only two Progress Energy leases exist on the Anson County side of Blewett Falls, both dating back to the 1950s before a moratorium was called on further access leases.
Progress Energy official Larry Mann said during a dam relicensing meeting Thursday in Pinehurst that there is "currently a moratorium of leases" on Blewett Falls Lake.
Mann said "Blewett was considered a prime site for development of a steam-powered electrical generation plant" for either coal-burning or nuclear power through the 1970s.
"At one time we didn't know what we were going to do with the reservoir" of Blewett Falls, so the lake was kept in its "pristine state" as a possible site for new power plants.
But new power plant plans "never materialized" as "technology changed" and Progress Energy no longer has any plans to build coal-fired or nuclear power plants, Mann said.
He said a "comprehensive-type development" Shoreline Management Plan for Blewett Falls has been started by Progress Energy as part of its dam relicensing project.
"We wouldn't want to issue any more leases until we have a study in place. Our interests are included, too," he said.

Moratorium start

Tim Bevacqua, Progress Energy shoreline/forest manager, said the defacto moratorium was stated in a 1972 policy statement by CP&L which said no further leases in addition to the four existing ones -- two in Anson and two in Richmond -- would be approved. And the 1972 policy said if those four leases were ever terminated, they would not be renewed.
Jimmy Chisholm, Lake Tillery manager for Progress Energy, said the two Richmond property owners granted leases are James R. Benson and J.B. Bradshaw, both in the Grassy Islands area. And he said those two will expire in 2008 when the dam is relicensed.
Bevacqua said the moratorium was also stated in a letter from CP&L to the Anson County Board of Commissioners in 1978 when application was made for a lease. The Anson request was denied due to plans for "potential future siting of a power plant."
The moratorium on Blewett Falls leases was officially declared in 2000 during the development of a Shoreline Management Plan for Lake Tillery by the utility, he said.
Mann said, "Just because people own adjacent property" on Blewett Falls Lake or Lake Tillery "does not mean they can have a lease" for waterfront access.
Chisholm said the two existing leases on the Anson side of the river are held by Anson County Law Enforcement and by Mike Goodwin of Lilesville, who purchased it recently.

Anson development

View of Blewett Falls Lake from the Anson County side, looking across the Pee Dee River toward the Richmond County side.

Blewett Falls Lake from the Anson County side, looking across the Pee Dee River toward the Richmond County side. The house on the Anson side of the lake is in Spencer Pointe subdivision, being developed by Mike Goodwin.

Goodwin is developing the only housing subdivision on Blewett Falls Lake, Spencer Pointe, on 100 acres on the Anson County side of the lake that includes his access lease.
He said he purchased the 1950-dated lease for $25,000 and has spent an additional $25,000 on improvements to the waterfront property to meet licensing requirements from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the N.C. water quality division and Progress Energy.
He said his subdivision has two and half miles of shoreline and he plans to develop waterfront lots and seek access permits from Progress Energy in the near future.
"We're one of the very few who saw an opportunity to develop here on the lake," he said. Goodwin said he has invested about $1 million in developing his property already.
"I"m going to force CP&L to change Blewett to a recreational lake. We're going to make them address the issue. How fair is it for Montgomery County to have so many millions of tax revenue from Lake Tillery and Richmond and Anson counties to have so little?"
He said he purchased the 100 acres in his development from Federal Paper Board for $55,000. Since his development started, his Anson tax value has jumped to $3.3 million.
Goodwin's partner in the Spencer Pointe development is Wadesboro attorney George Bowers. He said they have been negotiating with Progress Energy on development of the Shoreline Management Plan for Blewett Falls, which he said is to be completed this year.
"I"m just trying to get pier rights and waterfront development rights for my development. "As long as I play by the rules, they will have to give me leases for my whole development. If there's one lease existing on that lake, they have to give me leases on all the waterfront lots." Goodwin said he has 40 waterfront lots on Blewett Falls Lake.
"I'm doing this to prove a point, to show the people of Richmond and Anson that you can have a pier on Blewett Falls Lake."

Richmond development

The two existing leases on the Richmond side are for the Bradshaw and Benson homes, which were built on Blewett Falls many years ago, but those leases will expire in 2008.
The only other homes on the river are in the Grassy Islands area on northern Blewett Falls. John Lentz, an Ellerbe realtor, sold the land a small tract at a time over two decades from the Eben Ingram estate beginning in the late 1970s on Ingram Mill Road.
Seven homes have been built on the former Ingram land as the Rivercroft development, but not as a formal subdivision. Lentz said he sold tracts "whenever Eben Wallace needed some money" until his death in 2000.
The last tract of the Ingram waterfront property, 26 acres, was purchased in 2001 by Larry Stogner of Hamlet through Lentz from Ingram's heirs and is still undeveloped.

Wilma and Charles Coble, the first to build in the Rivercroft area on Blewett Falls Lake in the Grassy Islands area in Ingram Mill Road.

The first purchasers were Wilma and Charles Coble, owners of Coble Carolina Studio on U.S. 74 west of Rockingham. They build their home on Ingram Mill Road about 1980.
Mrs. Coble"s son, Alex Perakis, buildt the most recent home on Ingram Mill Road.
"We were the first ones to buy land on the river," said Charles Coble. "It was the first land that was available on the river that we ever heard about."
None of the seven homes on Ingram Mill Road on Blewett Falls have waterfront piers.
"We built a pier on the lake, but CP&L came along and said tear it down. They told us we could have steps all the way to the water, but nothing can stick out into the water.
"First I said, "I'll see you in court." But I thought about it and the next morning, I called them back and said I'd take it down."
Wilma Coble said, "The Pee Dee River is the best natural resource we have in Richmond County, and yet we can't use it."

Failed development

One housing subdivision was attempted in 1974, but closed without ever selling a lot.
Lentz said he assisted the late William L. Howell Jr. of Raeford, who surveyed off some of his waterfront property on Blewett Falls into 81 lots and attempted to sell lots on the lake.
But Lentz said he contacted CP&L and was told "no permanent piers" were allowed.
Howell's sister, Rebecca Howell, 79, of Ellerbe, still has a plat of the Richmont Estates subdivision layout prepared by her brother and remembers his plans to develop it.
She said he dropped his plans after being refused waterfront access leases by CP&L.
"It was pretty pointless since he couldn"t get waterfront access. He investigated it and found out it was not available. He found my grandfather had given them the high water rights," she said. Her grandfather was Thomas Henry Howell, who lived 1861 to 1946. Her brother died in 1994.
Lentz said in addition to the waterfront access issue, Howell also faced another problem with his development. "From the Howell land, it takes 30 minutes to get to the nearest paved road, Ford Hill Road."

Lakefront landowners

The Howell waterfront lands on Blewett Falls are still in the family, 661.22 acres.
The property is listed under the ownership name of Richmont Enterprises of Ellerbe.
Richmont is the second-largest landowner of waterfront property on Blewett Falls Lake.
The largest landowner of waterfront property is W.R. and Thomas Outen of Charlotte, who have 731.97 acres. Third is John D. and Bryan L. Chalk of Rockingham with 590 acres.
Fourth largest landowner is S.P. Forests LLC of Riegelwood with 361.4 acres.
Fifth largest is Progress Energy, with 351.38 acres in five tracts, all of which is in the Sandhills Game Lands, which is administered by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.
Sixth largest is McRae Family LLC of Durham with 260.1 acres, and the seventh largest is the late C. Kress Goodwin of Rockingham with 31.76 acres. He was the brother of Mike Goodwin of Spencer Pointe. All remaining property owners on the lake have smaller tracts.

County support

The Richmond County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously May 5, 2003 to support Progress Energy's dam relicensing application for Blewett Falls and Lake Tillery.
The board endorsed a letter to be added to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission application process from Kenneth Robinette, board chairman, to Progress Energy.
Included in the letter is, "We feel that the county and Progress Energy are both interested in the development of Richmond County. In that vein, we have some suggestions that we think would aid in the economic development of the county and therefore benefit Progress Energy as well as the citizens of the county.
"We suggest that Progress Energy conduct a Shoreline Management Plan for Blewett Lake. We suggest that this management plan be a precursor to the possible residential and recreational development of Blewett Falls Lake. We further suggest that Progress Energy work closely with local officials to coordinate any changes in the use of Blewett Falls Lake or dam."

Ussery's campaign

Richmond County Commissioner Thad Ussery said he has been lobbying CP&L and Progress Energy since he was first elected to the county board in 1994 to open up Blewett Falls Lake to residential and recreational development.
"It's a beautiful area. It's a big asset to the county. But right now, it's just wilderness land. Montgomery County is smaller that we are with a lower population, but look at the difference in tax value" of waterfront land -- $410 million vs. $41 million on Blewett Falls.
"We"re sitting on a gold mine and can't do anything about it," Ussery said. "It's like having a cow and we can't get any milk."
Ussery said the argument he was given by CP&L officials for not allowing waterfront leases on Blewett Falls is the fluctuating water level due to the dam's construction.
"If they can control the water level at Tillery, I don't see why they can't do that here."
Garrick Francis, Progress Energy public relations specialist, cited two reasons why Blewett has remained undeveloped. Tall stumps were left when the dam was finished in 1912 and they still stick out of the water at many places and are boat hazards in others.
And he said the Blewett Falls dam has 4-foot-high wooden flashboards on the top which are "designed to fail at high water. In fact, they're down now from the recent rains."
He said replacing the wooden flashboards with a permanent extension of the dam "is not economically feasible. We've just not been able to make the economics work."

Camping denied

Two local officials raised the issue of the recent denial of camping privileges in the Sandhills Game Lands on Blewett Falls at meeting with Progress Energy.
Monty Crump, Rockingham City Manager, first noted that Progress Energy owns the property administered by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission as the Sandhills Game Land, where camping has been denied for the first time this year by state game wardens.
Hearing no contradiction to that statement from Progress Energy officials, Crump continued, saying the denial of camping is a "hot button issue in Richmond County."
He suggested Progress Energy allow "primitive wilderness camping permits as a temporary plan for public access" to the Game Lands, like hunting is allowed by permits.
"There's a lot of folks in Richmond County who can't afford a $150,000 home who want access to the lake for camping and fishing," Crump said.
Richmond County Engineer Rick Sago also noted that many local residents are upset "since camping on the gamelands has been denied."
He suggested Progress Energy allow "additional public use on the lake, primitive and wilderness camping and access to the lake."
Sago also suggested that Progress Energy should "end the moratorium on access with the Shoreline Management Plan" being developed by the company for Blewett Falls.
"There's huge development potential for our county and Anson County with private development of Blewett Falls."

Crump's campaign

Crump said he has been interested in the lake area since his childhood, growing up in the Mangum community of Richmond, "literally on the banks of the Pee Dee River."
He also is one of the founding members of the Yadkin Pee Dee Relicensing Coalition, which he helped form while he was economic developer for Stanly County in 1998-2000.
The group was formed for the purpose of participating in the relicensing by Progress Energy and Alcoa of the dams on the Yadkin-Pee Dee River. Progress Energy owns the two dams on Blewett Falls and Lake Tillery and Alcoa owns four more further upstream.
The two Progress Energy dams are up for relicensing in 2008 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, required every 50 years under federal law.
He said an economic study by his group found the revenue from electrical power generated by those five dams is "$35 to $50 million per year" for the two companies.
"What have we to show for that $35 to $50 million per year? Four or five boat landings on the river. A certain percentage of that revenue should stay in the region. When you talk about economic development, that's a massive transfer of wealth out of this region."

Relicensing roadmap

He said the coalition "wants to see our fair share of the value of this region stays in the region. If we don't get this in place now, we'll lose it for the next 50 years.
"We've got hugely under-utilized resources" in Blewett Falls Lake, which he said "may be the largest undeveloped land-locked lake on the east coast. I don't know of a larger one.
"We have got to stop this transfer of wealth and help develop the public resources. We simply cannot allow that to happen for the next 50 years.
"Every bit of that money is going to the stockholders of Alcoa and Progress Energy and not to this region. It's a public resource, and more of that value needs to stay here."
Crump said the coalition supports relicensing of the dams, "but we need changes in the process. Relicensing will set the road map for how this river is going to be used for the next 50 years."
He said the denial of camping on Blewett Falls "is just one example of how a decision can be made that affects a lot of people. We need to continue to provide public access to the lake for everybody, not just those who can afford a home on the lake. You're denying people access and it's just not fair."
Crump added that if Alcoa and Progress Energy were trying to build dams on the Yadkin-Pee Dee now as they did back at the turn of the century, "We wouldn't allow it today."
"Suppose some group came down from Pittsburgh and said, 'We're going to dam your river and take all the water rights and all the money from our power plants, and we"re going to tell you whether you can build a pier or fish in it.' We"d run them back up north with a gun."

River gateway town

Rockingham attorney Bill Webb, a native of Ellerbe, said "We deserve access to the use of that water. Everybody else but us has got it," citing the development on Lake Tillery, Badin Lake, Tuckertown and High Rock Lake further upstream on the Yadkin-Pee Dee.
"With the Interstate 74 being developed, I can see the revival of Ellerbe as the gateway to the development of the river area. It would be the greatest thing for the whole northern end of the county.
"But we need access. This is huge. This would be one of the easiest ways for us to move forward for this county. It could be a real untapped source of revenue and a source of jobs."
But he said the key to unleash that development is waterfront access leases to be issued by Progress Energy for the property on the river.
"If they'd let these landowners have a pier, they could develop the land. But we've been stonewalled by CP&L for all these years. We provide them a huge amount of water and after last summer's drought, we know how much water is worth.
"It's a sad, sad thing to see our land on the river just sitting there. And even if you're a tree hugger, this doesn"t have to be a bad thing. You can develop it properly. I"d like to see it done and done right."