Lake Lanier’s Updated Master Plan Delayed

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Lake Lanier says the release of its updated Master Plan will be delayed well past the fall of 2019.

USACE officials issued a statement that “the planned second phase of data collection in support of the Master Plan Update will be delayed until the 2019 recreation season.”

The delay in conducting public surveys will also require the public and stakeholder meetings tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2018 to be delayed until fall 2019.  The entire schedule will shift and completion of the Environmental Assessment and final Master Plan Update will be pushed out another year.

If the USACE will still be gathering information from public open house meetings a year from now, it is impossible to determine when the process will culminate in a final report.

Data from open house meetings has been gathered for at least a year, but the USACE says, “This data has not been fully analyzed and no conclusions have been drawn at this time.”

Members of the public offered opinions about recreational areas on Lanier managed by the Corps.  “Data was successfully collected over the summer of 2018 on boat usage both during the week and weekends through aerial photographs and first hand observations to help calculate boating density on the lake.”

When additional data is collected in 2019, the USACE will employ a user survey “consisting of onsite exit interviews and visitor mailings to receive public comment on topics such as facility development, user conflict, and safety concerns.”

That’s the process that has been delayed, which also delays compiling conclusions.  In the words of the USACE, “Without full analysis of the user survey results combined with boating counts and previous public and stakeholder input, recommendations and management proposals cannot be fully evaluated.”

We’ll keep you updated, as news becomes available.