Goodrich's Dam Gates Are "Shot." Every Subdivision Drains Into That Pond.

By Carrie Thompson, Strategic Marketing Real Estate Agent, eXp Realty | Grand Blanc & Genesee County, MI

Over the weekend of June 6, 2026, the water gates on the Goodrich Dam stopped closing. The mill pond level dropped, and village council member Chris Caverly and Department of Public Works supervisor Matt Mayne went out to find out why.

They could see logs jammed in the openings on the north side of the dam and could not reach them. The village called in Johnson & Sons Excavating out of Atlas Township, which brought an excavator around to the south side. That did not find it either.

"Our last resort was to drain the pond, so we opened all three gates and let it go," Caverly told The Citizen. About six hours later the water was down to roughly four feet, and the problem was visible: limbs that had floated downstream were wrapped around the dam's concrete walls, stacked four or five high under the gates. All three gates had been stuck open by six to eight inches. (The Citizen, June 13, 2026)

Caverly's description of the hardware: "The gates are getting very flimsy; one gate is so bowed that it isn't sitting in the channel. They don't seat right. They are soft and rotten. They are shot."

The village has been studying this since 2024

Goodrich was one of 22 Michigan communities that received money in May 2024 through the state's Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program. The Legislature created that $14 million program after four dams in the Midland area failed in 2020 and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Goodrich received a $180,000 state grant with a $20,000 local match to pay for a feasibility study of the century-old dam on Kearsley Creek. Flint-based engineering firm Wade Trim ran the study for about a year, including concrete coring, soil borings, dive inspections, spillway evaluation, and geotechnical and hydrology work. (The Citizen, December 13, 2025)

The engineers came back with five options and a very wide price range

Wade Trim's John Tanner and Kevin Cook laid out the alternatives at the November 10, 2025 council meeting: repair it, replace it, or remove it.

Full removal, which would eliminate the impoundment and return the site to a natural river, was estimated at about $13 million or higher. Partial removal, keeping the pond at a lower level, was $2,750,000. Replacing the dam with a new structure was $9 million. Rehabilitation was the cheapest at about $1,750,000. A fifth option, replacing the dam with rock rapids, got no estimate at all because of the unknowns involved. (The Citizen, December 13, 2025)

Council president Shannon McCafferty was blunt about where the village stands financially. "We started setting up a dam fund (in past years) to prepare for this type of thing," she said. "But, I don't believe we have $13 million in the bucket, but we do have a good start."

The council is going with the option that keeps the pond

By March 2026 the council had moved toward rehabilitation, priced at $2,047,500 in 2026 dollars and expected to take about two years. (The Citizen, March 14, 2026)

What makes that option workable is that it is not one project. Wade Trim built it as an a la carte framework, so the village can schedule and pay for pieces over time. The line items include $600,000 for an upgraded gate system, $250,000 for concrete structural repairs, $250,000 for right embankment restoration including a retaining wall and seepage control, and $341,250 for contingency, design, engineering, permitting and administration.

"It's going to cost the least amount and still maintain the impoundment," Cook said. "The water levels would be maintained as they are now."

Cook was also candid about the funding landscape, and this is the part that shapes what happens to small dams everywhere. "There will be funding to remove the dam," he said. "That is the push to open up rivers and creeks throughout the United States. Getting money to repair any dam is few and far (between). They do exist, but not for much money and are associated with safety issues."

Money is easier to get for taking a dam out than for keeping one in. That is the pressure the village is working against.

The pond is not a view. It is the village's stormwater system.

This is the part most people outside Goodrich would never guess, and it came from the council president herself.

"This effects everybody in the community," McCafferty said. "Whether you're on the pond or not, we have drains that run into the pond that every subdivision in the village can thank the pond for holding their storm water." (The Citizen, March 14, 2026)

The mill pond is where the village's storm drains go. That reframes the whole conversation. A homeowner three streets off the water who has never thought about the dam is connected to it through the drain in front of the house.

McCafferty has also said plainly that she does not want to see it go. "As a resident I would hate to see the dam go away," she said in December. "There's a lot of potential there. Right now we should look at rehabilitation. There's too much at risk (losing the dam)."

April's flooding changed how the gates get managed

Heavy rain in early April 2026 saturated the ground, triggered statewide flood warnings and pushed a lot of water through the structure. Village officials lifted several gates to move the volume. That prompted the council to update the dam's Emergency Action Plan. (The Citizen, May 16, 2026)

"The dam is old, but it's still structurally sound," McCafferty said. "The events of this past April and the amount of water that passed through have prompted an evaluation of our procedures moving forward." The updates under discussion include rules for exactly when to raise the gates, cameras to monitor water level, and a notification list for the people who operate them.

Pete Morey, a village resident who has managed the dam for years, described the geography. "There are a lot of floodplains between Ortonville and Goodrich," he said. "We had a lot of snow this year, and those upstream areas were already full before the rains." He said the village needs to coordinate with the Ortonville DPW closely enough that he once bought them a rain gauge.

Morey also had a direct request for anyone living along the mill pond: clear brush and dead trees so they do not end up in the water. "Debris can flow toward the dam and block the gates," he said. "If a tree gets stuck under a floodgate, we will have major problems." Less than a month later, limbs were stacked four or five high under the gates.

In June the council voted 4 to 1 to replace the three water gates and a fish gate, fast-tracking that piece for completion this fall. The cost of the emergency work was not discussed at the meeting.

What this means if you are looking at property in Goodrich

Not alarm. Homework.

The village has a funded engineering study, a chosen approach, a council that has been setting money aside for years, and gate replacement already moving for this fall. That is a community handling a known problem in public, on the record, with the documents posted. It is more transparency than most buyers ever get about a piece of shared infrastructure.

What it does mean is that in Goodrich the mill pond is a village-wide utility, not a waterfront amenity, and questions about it belong in your due diligence whether or not the house touches the water. If you are looking there, the things worth actually reading are the village council agendas and public notices at villageofgoodrich.com, and The Citizen's ongoing coverage, which is where every one of the facts above came from.

Ask about drainage. Ask where the storm water goes. Ask what the village has scheduled and how it is being paid for. Those are normal questions for any older community with shared infrastructure, and Goodrich is far from the only one in this county that has them.

If you are looking at a home in Goodrich, Atlas Township, Grand Blanc, Davison, Fenton, Linden, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Burton or Holly and you want help working through what to check before you write an offer, call or text me at (810) 893-3269.

About Carrie Thompson

Carrie Thompson is a licensed Michigan Realtor (#6501338662) with eXp Realty, serving Grand Blanc, Fenton, Davison, Linden, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Burton, Goodrich, Holly, and Genesee County. Known as "Your Favorite Property Girl," she brings a strategic marketing approach to every listing and every buyer search. Call or text (810) 893-3269.