In August, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) announced plans to drain four lakes beginning September 16. GBRA said dewatering was necessary to avert potential failure of spillgates on the dams creating the lakes. Two other lakes have already been drained. GBRA says that it doesn’t have the funds to repair the spillgates.
Property owners along the lakes are understandably upset. Their lakefront homes will become rural property, and the amenities offered by the lake will disappear. Property owners have obtained a temporary injunction halting the drainage.
Because property values around the current lakes are expected to decline (some estimates are as high as 50 percent) if the GBRA goes through with its plan, it could be argued that this is an example of a takings. According to the Cornell Law School’s website, a taking occurs “when the government seizes private property for public use” or when “the government restricts the owner’s rights so much that the governmental action becomes the functional equivalent of a physical seizure.”
In this case, the government is neither seizing private property nor limiting the owner’s property rights. However, the GBRA will be taking away a value from lakefront property owners. Many, if not most, bought their property because of its proximity to a lake. That value will be removed. In addition, many businesses that depend on the lake (such as campgrounds and boat shops) will have their livelihoods destroyed.
Repairs to the spillgates will cost an estimated $125 million. Some property owners are willing to create a special taxing district to pay for the repairs. But this means forcing those owners to “contribute” to the costs, regardless of their own desires or judgment. Others have proposed seeking funds from the state or federal government, which would force taxpayers who have never visited the lakes to “contribute” to the costs. Neither of these solutions is moral.
Interestingly, the dams were privately owned until 1963. Returning the dams to private ownership is both moral and proper. The homeowners associations (HOAs) around the lakes have a vested interest in retaining the lakes and maintaining the dams.
In many communities HOAs own and maintain the roads. Why can’t the HOAs around the lakes do that with the dams? The moral solution is to sell the damn dams to those who benefit from them.