Aug. 10. By Dave Yochum. Looking at it from the glass is half-full perspective, the new county beach at Ramsey Creek Park is bigger than ever. That’s because lake levels are dropping.
As of yesterday afternoon, there were 29.5 inches of water at the perimeter of the swimming area, down from 36 inches June 28, the last time we measured. Back when the park opened with plenty of fanfare just before Memorial Day, there was four feet of water, and, naturally, the beach was smaller.
We’ve shortened his comment, but Cornelius Town Commissioner Michael Miltich said the Memorial Day weekend opening was “a cluster.”
He is calling for a debrief—a post-mortem on the summer beach experience—to discuss the Ramsey Creek Beach and all the things that went wrong with a noble experiment.
Among them: Fierce congestion on West Catawba and Nantz Road, home to many luxury homes; inadequate parking and “stacking” for cars queuing up to the entrance gate; county taxes paying for off-duty police to manage traffic; and an intersection that remains dangerous and unfinished.
A promised traffic light at Nantz and West Catawba was never installed, but concrete was poured in the middle of the Nantz roadway for no immediately apparent reason, and sidewalks torn up making the intersection an iffy proposition for pedestrians and cyclists.
“They had a penny-wise and pound-foolish approach,” said Miltich. Former elected officials as well as Miltich say the beach would have been better sited on either side of the peninsula that it sits on, not the point. At the point, the beach is competing with boaters using the Ramsey Creek boat ramp. Sand, meanwhile, migrates with the discernible current associated with the creek, Miltich said.
With a gently sloping beach, swimmers might be high and dry before long. “As the lake drops, the water line travels like crazy,” Miltich said, explaining the lake goes down every summer.
Lake levels have dropped nearly two feet since the beach was dedicated with considerable publicity May 24. And where there was four feet of water at the edge of the swimming area a month ago, there’s now 29.5 inches.
The county fanfare meant a tidal wave of publicity, with every Charlotte media outlet invited to attend opening ceremonies, although local outlets were not invited. (Cornelius Today attended anyway.)
On Aug. 16 last year, the lake level was at 95.1 feet, according to Duke Energy. It’s now at 97.2 feet, indicating that a drought like last year would mean excellent sun-bathing for all—from that glass half-full perspective.
Indeed, beach crowds are down considerably. At the debriefing Miltich said he will look for answers from Mecklenburg County Parks. “I would love to see how much over budget Ramsey is,” he said
