30 day public comment period begins…

GRDA presents final SMP draft

Vinita — The Grand River Dam Authority is announcing that the 30 day public comment period related to the much anticipated final draft of the Grand Lake Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) is now underway.

The GRDA Board of Directors received the draft from GRDA staff at its September 12 meeting in Vinita. After the public comment period, which lasts until October 15, and two public meetings scheduled for early October, the GRDA Board will vote on the final plan in November.

At that September 12 meeting, copies of the final draft were made available to the public. GRDA is also announcing that those interested in seeing the draft can obtain a copy at GRDA’s Vinita headquarters or they can view it online at www.grda.com.

The public meetings in early October will be GRDA’s opportunity to present the final draft plan to the public and will include a question and answer session after the GRDA presentation. Those meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, October 2, at 6 PM at Cleora School and Thursday, October 4, at 6 PM at the Grove Community Center. Those meetings represent another opportunity for the public to be involved in the SMP process.

“Going back to June 2005, when the effort really got underway, through today, many lake area stakeholders have devoted many hours to this effort,” said GRDA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Easley, “and GRDA is very appreciative of those efforts.”

Stakeholder Working Groups (SWG), comprised of lake area stakeholders who volunteered to help develop the plan, were established early in the process. Initial SWG meetings began in December 2005. Final SWG meetings were held in May 2007. GRDA also held a series of public meetings throughout the process, including five earlier this year, to take public comment on the most recent draft. The information gained during those sessions — including comments from the public — was considered during the drafting of this final SMP version.

“The input has been invaluable throughout the process,” said GRDA Community Relations Director Holly Moore, “and we’re still taking comments now, through the end of this 30 day period.”

Moore said those interested in commenting on the final draft can send an email to smp@grda.com or other written comments can be addressed to SMP, PO Box 409, Vinita, OK 74301.

GRDA began developing the SMP at the request of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency which licenses GRDA to manage the Pensacola Dam and Grand Lake. The plan will determine future development activity to be allowed along Grand Lake’s 1,300 miles of shoreline.