West Bank Park on Buford Dam Road has been closed since flooding this spring, and it’s not yet known how long it will be until the park is reopened.

The park first closed in February when Lake Lanier’s level reached 1,076.1 feet above sea level, more than 5 feet above full summer pool level of 1,071 feet and its highest level in more than 40 years.

Lake Lanier’s Natural Resource Manager Nick Baggett said West Bank was heavily damaged by the flooding and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is awaiting funding for repairs.

“Right now, we don’t have a date when we expect to reopen West Bank Park,” Baggett said. “It’s dependent upon when we get the funding. We requested special storm damage funding from the Corps that we’re hoping to get at some point. Once we get that funding, then we can start on making the necessary repairs at West Bank Park.”

Baggett said multiple areas of the park would need to be repaired before the park could reopen amid safety concerns.

“Some of the areas that were damaged were our picnic sites,” he said. “We had damage to some of the bulkheads that protect shoreline, as well as some of the beach areas.”

No other parks received the level of damage that West Bank did, but Baggett said the closing had impacted some surrounding parks.

“We look forward to opening West Bank Park. It’s one of our most popular parks on the lake,” Baggett said. “It has impacted the use of some of our other parks, like Buford Dam Park and Lanier Park, which are on the south end of the lake. Those parks have really been extremely crowded, especially during the holiday weekends.