(11/29) The state of Maryland will be moving forward with plans to remove the dam at the Frank Bentz Pond. Perry Otwell, from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources presented Thurmont’s Board of Commissioners with an early concept plan for the site, once the dam is removed, during the November 26 town meeting.
As explained by Otwell, the Maryland Department of the Environment performs periodic inspections of dams throughout the state. The Frank Bentz dam, unfortunately, has proven to rank higher on the state’s list of priority projects, and will be removed due to several safety, health and welfare concerns. The overall construction of the dam was deemed unsafe, and was not built
with a lot of safety aspects in mind.
The pond's history dates back to 1908, when a group of businessmen created the Electric Light and Power Co. Two years later, the pond was built by damming up Hunting Creek. Water from the creek was then routed to generators sitting in the current location of the Thurmont town office. In 1920, the town officially formed its own electric company, known as the Thurmont
Municipal Light Company. The town has purchased power wholesale and sold it to their residents since then.
In 1955, the pond was sold to the Department of Natural Resources, about one year after the death of the pond's namesake, Frank Bentz Sr.. Bentz was the public relations director for the Game and Inland Fish Commission and he had helped to restore the pond shortly before his death. In 2001, then state Delegate Paul S. Stull, of Walkersville, helped the town obtain funding
for the pond's current renovation, but the plans fell apart, leaving the pond to continue to fill with silt and the dam to deteriorate.
Then in 2005, The Army Corps of Engineers proposed a plan to remove the pond and restore the natural flow of Hunting Creek, instead of repairing the failing dam and restoring the pond. The town's Board of Commissioners, the Frank Bentz Pond Committee and scores of residents made it clear then that removing the pond was not an option, so the dam and pond remained and
restoration was completed. Frank Bentz Pond was, and is still, seen as a place of history, memories and a large part of the identity of the community.
Otwell’s concept plan includes the creation of a small park, approximately half an acre in size, with some picnic tables; or the area could be returned to nature, planted with trees and grasses. The plan also includes a small parking lot, with about ten parking spaces, and one central entrance. Within the plan Bentz Pond will be removed, but since fishing at the 2-acre
pond is popular among residents, Maryland Fisheries have proposed the creation of different fish habitat. Fisheries is looking to create smaller pools, ponds and the stream to create better habitat for fish, particularly trout. The water, as it currently stands, is very shallow and Fisheries hopes to create deeper, cooler pools for trout that actually thrive in deeper, colder water. The pond will
be "re-worked" or re-designed in order to restore it back to its original stream. A lot of stream bank restoration will also be taking place.
Several residents and Commissioners voiced concerns with diminishing the historical value of the both the property and the dam. Ideas and plans will be devised to showcase the dam, whether via signs and pictures, monuments, models etc. Other residents voiced concern of run-off and flooding from the stream into the proposed park and parking lot.
Design will be started in the spring, with construction potentially starting during the summer of 2021. All plans will be coordinated with the town. The Maryland Historical Society will be included throughout the entire process, as will Maryland Fisheries. This plan will be brought back to the Board in the spring, taking all comments and feedback into consideration.
