Lake Holiday, in Frederick County, has been a treasured recreational resource to area residents for 40 years. The Lake Holiday Dam, designed to protect homeowners in the community, was completed in 1971. Due to updated dam safety regulations adopted in recent years by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), it became clear to the County and community that the dam and its associated spillway were not designed to manage a storm of the magnitude required by the new regulations.

In order to proactively address this challenge, the landowners within the community and Frederick County collaborated to establish a Dam Task Force and the Lake Holiday Sanitation District (LHSD). The community engaged a contractor to examine ways to satisfy the new DCR regulations. Once design documents were finalized in September 2010, it was time for a referendum on borrowing for the project, which took place in conjunction with the November 2010 election.

The Task Force considered several alternatives for upgrading the dam and agreed on a plan that includes construction of an entirely new concrete spillway and bridge, modifications to the road leading to the spillway and relocation of utility connections to the other side of the bridge. In all, the project is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete. To fund the new dam and spillway, LHSD was able to borrow $10 million for 20 years, at a very reasonable All-in True Interest Cost of 5.19%, from VRA's Virginia Pooled Financing Program (VPFP).

"The staff at VRA were extremely helpful and made everything from the application process to the closing as painless as possible," said Kris Tierney, Assistant County Administrator for Frederick County. "The Lake Holiday community was extremely fortunate to have been eligible for this program. As icing on the cake, the community also is benefiting from the luck of good timing as the Spring bond issue received a very favorable rate."

Reconstruction of the Lake Holiday Dam and Spillway is a great example of the flexible nature of the VPFP and illustrates the wide variety of projects it supports. When the community realized that the dam and spillway needed improvements, VRA was ready to step in and assist so that the residents of Frederick County could enjoy Lake Holiday and its benefits for many more years to come.