HOA Karen Got a Court Order for My Dam — Then Met 11 Million Gallons of Karma

“The whole thing,” she confirmed. “The bowl fills first. If there’s a heavy rain event on top of the snowmelt, they get five feet of water in their living rooms within 24 hours.”


I drafted a massive 283-page response filing. It included certified copies of every state permit my dam held, and a highly detailed hydrological model showing exactly how fast Cascade Meadows Estates would drown if the dam came down.


At the court hearing, Heather sat smugly with her high-priced lawyers. They paraded in an “expert” engineer who completely ignored the concept of peak discharge.


I took the stand. I gave the judge my credentials as the state’s former Chief Dam Safety Engineer.


“Your Honor,” I said clearly for the court record. “Removing this structure in the spring runoff season will cause a catastrophic flood of the 84 homes downstream. I have kept that valley dry for 28 years.”


The judge, leaning heavily into a misguided interpretation of environmental restoration laws, overruled my warning. She ordered me to demolish my own dam within 90 days.


Heather beamed. Her lawyers shook hands. They thought they had outsmarted the local rural guy.


I walked out of that courthouse into the cold March air. I looked at my daughter, handed her the 283-page hydrology report, and made my decision.


I wasn’t going to fight the court order anymore. I was going to tear my own dam down just in time for the spring snowmelt. And I was going to let the river teach HOA Karen the one lesson she refused to learn.

Over the following 90 days, I did exactly what engineers do when they cannot win a legal argument but refuse to panic. I documented everything.

I filed formal written warnings of the anticipated downstream flood with every entity that had jurisdictional interest in the valley. I sent certified letters with return receipts to the State Agency of Natural Resources, the County Emergency Management Office, the Town Select Board, FEMA’s regional office, and the Cascade Meadows Estates HOA board itself.

Each letter included my 283-page environmental assessment, my daughter’s hydrological models, and a plain-language summary stating that the court-ordered removal of the dam would flood the subdivision.

I received 17 form letters acknowledging receipt. The Deputy Commissioner of Natural Resources, a former colleague of mine, wrote me a personal note back: “Rowan, I have flagged the file internally. When this breaks, we will move fast. Take care of your family.”