But work on the dams was halted when the Prince’ s Lake Building Company, Inc. went broke in mid-1958.
The newly-minted Cordry-Sweetwater Lot Owners Association tried to press on with construction through voluntary contributions but soon found that the issues involved required an organizational structure capable of raising the money needed to finish construction, operate, and maintain the lakes and related concerns.
They turned to a new legal entity, which had been created by the 1957 Indiana Conservancy District Act, providing for special tax districts for the purpose of solving problems related to water resources management.
The Cordry-Sweetwater Conservancy District was established in June 1959 by the Brown County Circuit Court. The conservancy operates under the direction of a seven-member board of directors elected by lot owners.
Mr. Prince died in 1962 without knowing if his Cordry / Sweetwater lakefront development project would ever be completed.
Cordry-Sweetwater reflects a particular time and trend in American residential development, with a vision of waterfront communities laid out like suburbs. The 1964 Master Plan, Brown County’ s first real planning document, creates a“ lake residential” zoning classification, and projects a Brown County dotted with a series of lakes and reservoirs bordered by rustic, seaside type cottages.
“ Twelve new reservoirs would give Brown County four invaluable new assets,” says the’ 64 master plan, including“ an adequate water supply, a flood control system which would permit development of flat land for new industry, new residential areas, and future waterfront lots …. not only conservation— but an actual enhancement— of the characteristic scenic beauty for which Brown County is famous. A simultaneous means of securing immense economic growth.”
The plan contemplated submerging 4,240 acres( barely two percent of Brown County’ s total area) under lakes as large as 800 acres.
Lot sales continued on both Cordry and Sweetwater Lakes. Work on the Sweetwater Dam resumed in 1963. It was completed and the lake filled to its current pool level in 1967.
Cordry Dam was completed in 1968, and residential development continued for several years.
By 1987, the district began reaching peak population levels. In the intervening years, almost half of the residential population had become part-time occupants.
Attempts to incorporate the area as a town in 1998, and again in 2006 failed, leaving the district with some difficult issues about its legal authority to enforce certain codes and rules, and depriving it of some revenue sharing that smaller, but incorporated entities receive.
More recently, the district has been in court over concerns about property tax rates, which seem to have tripled.
Just like a lot of little unique areas and places around the county, the District has its own particular take on things, and that’ s one of the things that makes the county so interesting. •
Nov./ Dec. 2014 • Our Brown County 63