Saffin's Pond Dam Getting a Facelift

The dam at Saffin Pond in is getting a facelift.

“The dam needs to be brought up to code,” said Arthur Vitale, assistant director of the engineering commission for the Morris County Parks Commission. “It needs to have some work done to it.”

Weather permitting, the project will start by the end of April. The Saffin Pond section of Mahlon Dickerson will be closed to the public while the work proceeds, Vitale said. Work is estimated to be complete by the end of 2011, Vitale said.

According to Vitale, the work that will be done to the bridge includes:

• Replacing the low level outlet, “a fancy word for a drainpipe,” Vitale said, to drain the lake.
• Building a new, wider concrete stillway.
• Placing crushed stone and large stone around the dam to protect the earthen portion from flooding.
• Building a steel bridge over the stillway.