DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — The fate of Beaver Lake in Mossy Head lies, it seems, in the hands of the people who live around it.
Walton County commissioners agreed Tuesday to help those who live in the subdivision encircling the nearly dried-up lake obtain state permits needed to refill it.
But Commissioner Bill Imfeld, who brought the issue to the board, said it appears the county is powerless to cover the cost or do the work required to restore Beaver Lake.
“There is no county involvement in the lake. The lake is private property,” Imfeld said.
Beaver Lake was built about 1960 by a group out of Miami called Ecological Development Inc., which used it to lure potential home buyers to the Oakwood Hills development east of Mossy Head.
The corporation is long defunct, and efforts to sell the property, either to the subdivision’s homeowners association or the county, were rejected, according to resident John Belensoff, a longtime homeowners association president.
The lake lost most of its water over the summer.
Imfeld received authorization from the board to have the county staff “work with the people who live around the lake to seek DEP (state Department of Environmental Protection) permits” needed to fix what is believed to be a corroded drainage pipe.
He said public works crews believe the lake’s dam will have to be opened to do the work, but that the overall job didn’t appear insurmountably expensive.
Oakwood Hills resident Janet Prescott vowed to take the cause of refilling Beaver Lake to her neighbors.
“I didn’t know that it would be up to us. We’ll have to have a meeting,” she said. “I don’t know what else to do. I want my lake back.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.