Mr. David H. Fox, Director Environmental & Dam Safety Cube Hydro Partners 2 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 1330 Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Dear Mr. Fox:
We appreciate this opportunity to provide input to the Recreation Plan Update for the Lake Lynn Hydro Project, known more commonly in Monongalia County as Cheat Lake. This recreation area is well known regionally and is quite popular for boating, fishing and more recently swimming at the Mill Stone Point Beach. Hiking and biking on the Cheat Lake Trail have been growing in popularity since that Trail was opened in the Year 2000.
As you know, the Cheat Lake Environment & Recreation Association (CLEAR) has been active in promoting recreation, safety and environmental protection for the past 25 years. Our Monongalia County Commission has supported many of these activities over the years.
Regarding the plans in the 2018 Recreation Plan Update, we support CLEAR is seeking to achieve a recreation presence in the form of one or more persons trained in recreation activities to host visitors and provide information and assistance as appropriate for hiking, biking, and swimming, as well as usage of the boat docks and picnic facilities. These activities can substitute for some of the security guard activities which you have addressed in the draft report as no longer needed.
You are also proposing to suspend three year recreation review updates given the upcoming six-year re-licensing review. Along with CLEAR, we would favor a brief annual review to be shared among all interested parties so that any concerns can be made known and addressed relatively quickly. This would also provide an opportunity to learn of your success and progress in a timely manner.
We want to join CLEAR in recognizing the fine job that your company has been doing in providing recreational opportunities regionally and for providing a valuable electrical supply at 54 megawatts. You may know that the Monongahela River Trail is being extended into Pennsylvania, so the opportunity to connect this extension to the Cheat Lake Trail may well become a reality within a few years.
Thank you for this opportunity to provide input to the 2018 Recreation Plan Update.
Sincerely yours,
Monongalia County Commissioners.
cc: Mon County Sheriff, Mon County Planner, WV-DNR.