At its May 23 meeting the Lake Anna Advisory Committee (LAAC) voted to recommend the installation of No Wake buoys at the Milpond and Elk Creek bridges on Cooling Pond 2 of Dominion Power’s Waste Heat Treatment Facility (WHTF), also known as the hotside or the “private” side of Lake Anna.
After discussion, Orange County Citizen Representative Jeff Palmer made a motion to install the buoys at the bridges, just like on the main lake. Spotsylvania Citizen Representative Barbara Aikens second the motion.
Horne wanted the committee to wait until more members were present. Chairman C.C. McCotter noted a quorum was present and there was a motion and a second to be voted on. The motion passed 4-1 with Louisa County Representative Robin Horne against.
Palmer told Life & Times he had visited the WHTF over the spring, fishing around the bridges and noted some close calls.
“I was amazed at how close boaters would come to us at high speed as we fished around the bridges. It was a dangerous situation.”
John Pastino, a Cuckoo District citizen living in the Mill Run community on the WHTF noted the bridges have similar blind turns as the ones on the main lake with No Wake Buoy and that frequent morning fog due to the heated water in the cooling pond made it even more dangerous.
One other citizen living on the WHTF also spoke during the Citizen Comment period in favor of the No Wake buoy at the two bridges.
Pastino also urged LAAC to consider creating a No Boats Zone on either side of the Dike 3 discharge area between Pond 1 and the main lake. He cited an area of heavy, swirling current on the discharge side was not a safe place for boats. The potential for a boat to be sucked into the dike on the WHTF side was also a concern.
Dominion Energy representative Sarah Marshall noted the company was activity looking into the No Boats Zone option.
Chairman McCotter asked Aiken, Chair of the Navigation & Safety Subcommittee to ask the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources what they thought would be a good distance for such a zone and report back a the July LAAC meeting.
The group also considered an application for the extension of a No Wake Zone in front of the town homes at Lake Anna Plaza that would spawn over 700’. After discussion the group voted to table any action until further information was received from the applicant explaining why the No Wake Zone needed to be extended. The applicant, Larry Merritt, did not attend the meeting.
