Lewisville Homeowners Frustrated About Changed View
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LEWISVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) - Before docks stretched out over dry land, neighbors called it Copperas Branch Lake. But the Army Corps of Engineers says the area was never meant to be a stand-alone body of water. It was cut off from Lake Lewisville years ago when roadwork incorrectly raised the water levels. When the I-35 expansion project began last year the water levels were restored to their intended levels.
"So they actually drained all the water, so that they could do the construction for the highway expansion, and so that's why we're left with a wasteland," homeowner Lynne Shorney said.
The view from Shorney's backyard has become an eyesore, and neighbors say the problems are more than just aesthetic.
"All the wildlife has been displaced. We used to have turtles, egrets, blue herrin, lots of fish," homeowner Gillian Goldthorpe said.
The construction company in charge of the I-35 expansion project insists it is monitoring the area to ensure the safety of wildlife, but homeowners have one other critical concern.
"Our property values have plummetted. We were being taxed as lakefront property, but who would buy a house looking like this?" Goldthorpe said.
The Army Corps of Engineers has offered to help with a cleanup and provide native plants to help the area look better, but it estimates a full restoration could cost millions of dollars.
"If we could come up with a plan, present it to the Corps, then they will approve, say yea or nay, this looks good, or no it doesn't look good, and then we can move forward, but right now we're just kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place," Shorney said.
The Army Corps of Engineers has suggested that homeowners contact naturalists with county and state agencies to help with the restoration. Neighbors say they have reached out to several groups, and recently heard back from a Master Naturalist Group interested in helping.
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