Survey respondents favor replacing dam at Monticello

The vast majority of 238 people who completed a questionnaire on proposals to remove the Mon-Maq dam on the Maquoketa River at Monticello favor the most elaborate and expensive of three alternatives.

Three options for replacing the deteriorating 110-year-old dam with structures designed to enhance the river's natural and recreational attributes were presented last month at public meetings in Monticello and at gatherings of Monticello High School students.  Sixty-six adults and 172 students completed questionnaires.

Asked if they think the dam should be modified, 97 percent of the respondents said yes.

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents said they prefer Alternative A, the most expensive at an estimated cost of $2.8 million, which entails four stone structures resembling mini-waterfalls. The largest, with a 3-foot drop, would be built at the dam site. Three smaller ones, each with a 1 1/2-foot drop, would be constructed in a 2-mile stretch of river upstream of the dam.

Fifteen percent of the respondents chose Alternative B (estimated cost: $1.8 million), which would consist of the stone structure with the 3-foot drop at the dam site.

Just 1 percent of the respondents chose Alternative C (estimated cost: $2.3 million), which entails replacement of the dam with a rock arch rapids consisting of from six to seven drops, each in the 12- to 18-inch range.

The percentages do not add to 100 because some of the participants chose more than one alternative, according to Larry Gullett, director of the Jones County Conservation Department, which owns the dam at the heart of the proposed re-engineering project.

Eighty-nine percent of the respondents supported construction along the river of a land-based, hard surfaced trail, with an estimated cost of more than $1 million, that would connect the structures and could be used for running, walking and bicycling.

Eighty-three percent said the trail should be combined with the river restoration into a single project.

Given that the county owns the dam and that most of the area proposed for a land trail is within city limits, 90 percent of respondents said the county and city should cooperate in moving the project forward.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they think the city and county should help fund the project along with state and federal grants and corporate and private donations.