It's taken a year to get the proper permits, said engineer Steve Mountain, but some time this month, crews should start dredging Horseshoe Lake in Stafford.
The lake is part of a private recreational and residential community.
Approximately 1,500 cubic yards of silty lake bed will be removed from an existing 4,000-square-foot swimming area and a new boat launch area on the northeast cove of the lake.
The swimming area will be back-filled with four inches of pea gravel and four inches of sand.
To help fight an aquatic weed problem, the lake level will be lowered about eight feet for the winter, which should kill off weeds along the shore.
"It was an extremely long permitting process," Mountain said.
I use to live on the lake
I use to live on the lake back in the 70s. The family that own the lake at that time, tried to dredge it and ran into all sorts of problems as the mud bottom was much deeper than anticipated. Also by lowering the Lake , they lost most of the game fish. They followed the flowing water out the spill way into the Mclutchon's pond on the the other side of the road, thru the swamp area, into Bigelow creek and eventually into Goffery's pond.