The 600 foot long Atlas Dam will soon be trimmed down to 400 feet.

Northampton Borough Council was informed at its March 6 meeting the size of the dam will be decreased.

Borough Manager Gene Zarayko said 200 feet of the dam will be taken down.

"It will be removed to the bed rock," Zarayko said.

Council also learned that the Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association will seek bids for the partial demolition project.

The borough is unable to stop the project because the dam is located on private property.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources awarded the Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association a $429,300 grant for the project.

Much of the project will include removing silt, next to the dam, which has built up over the decades.

Borough lawmakers said the silt will be moved to both sides of the water channel, so to create an ecosystem for turtles, birds and small animals.

One of the dam's strongest supporters, Councilman Ed Pany, scoffed at the notion of the erection of a plaque at the site to commemorate the Atlas Dam's legacy.

The dam was built to provide electricity to the plant. The dam's history is renowned for making cement for the Panama Canal, Holland Tunnel and Empire State Building.

"To me it's a definition of tyranny," Councilman Anthony Lopsonzski Sr. said concerning the state DEP's decision to award the grant to the association. "I don't care how they explain it."

The property the dam sits on is owned by the Howith family, which has commercial and industrial interests in the area.

Lopsonzski said the forested area has red and gray foxes and numerous species of birds, including the bald eagle.

"Stay out of our backyard," he said. "I'm just a little miffed. I despise them. It's nothing to be proud of."

Pany and Lopsonzski agreed the grant funding would be better used to bring the dam up to modern standards.

Pany previously mentioned the dam could survive for another hundred years.