Tribble Mill's Lakes Are Being Rebuilt One at a Time, and Chandler Lake Is Next

On the Chandler Lake Loop at Tribble Mill Park, benches face the water, people fish off the bank, and geese, cranes and turtles work the shoreline. The loop is about 2.2 miles, part paved and part natural ground with roots and rocks. AllTrails puts it at 101 feet of elevation gain, which makes it an easy hour.

On Oct. 21, 2026, Gwinnett County issued contract documents to rebuild the dam that holds Chandler Lake. Right after erosion control and temporary access, the scope of work lists "draining the lake."

Tribble Mill has two lakes and two dams, and the county is working through them one at a time. Lake Ozora, the lower lake, has already been drained, repaired, refilled and restocked. Chandler is next. If you fish, paddle or walk the water's edge here, what happened at Ozora is the best preview of the next year or so at the upper lake.

Lake Ozora Went First

The county's official Tribble Mill trail map labels the park's two lakes Ozora and Chandler. County engineering documents call them by dam numbers instead. TM-1 is Ozora, and TM-2 is the dam that "impounds the upper lake," with "Candler Lake" listed as the alias. The 2026 bid package pairs Tribble Mill Dam No. 2 with the Chandler Lake spelling.

Ozora's turn came first. On July 16, 2024, the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners' agenda included an award to Haren Construction Company for outlet works maintenance at TM1, Lake Ozora, and at N1, Trophy Club Lake. The award was capped at $2,762,000 for both dams and funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, according to the July 2024 work session agenda package.

The lake was drained in 2025 and refilled to full pool afterward. That account comes from an angler who posted on the GON fishing forum in January 2026. He described Ozora as a "90+ acre impoundment" and shared emails he got from the county's project manager. In a Jan. 20, 2026 email quoted in that thread, James Grimes, an engineer with Gwinnett's Department of Water Resources, wrote:

"Operations staff at the park have reopened boat access at the lake to allow for fishing and recreational access. The fish included in the stocking process however were fingerlings, so it may take some time for the fish to increase in size to what was comparable in the lake prior to the construction project."

That last sentence is the key one for anyone who fishes Tribble Mill. Ozora is back, but the fish in it are young.

What Went Back Into Ozora

In the same email, Grimes wrote that the county restocked Ozora in 2025 with "both prey fish and predator fish (including bass)." In a follow-up, he said the county used its on-call annual contractor, which works with Aquatic Environmental Services to supply and stock the fish. The forum poster then typed out the county's stocking rates, per acre of lake:

• Largemouth bass: 50
• Bluegill: 400
• Redear sunfish: 100
• Channel catfish: 50
• Triploid sterile grass carp: 5
• Threadfin shad: 35 pounds

The mix tells you how the lake is being rebuilt. For every bass there are eight bluegill, two redear and a stock of shad, which is a food supply put in place first so the predators have something to grow on. The grass carp handle vegetation. Bass stocked as fingerlings in 2025 are still growing, which is the "take some time" the county engineer was talking about.

So the timing works out like this. Ozora's restart is still young, and the upper lake is about to start the same cycle.

Chandler's Repair Is the Bigger Job

The two dam projects are not the same size. Ozora's was billed as outlet works maintenance. Chandler's is a rehabilitation. The Invitation to Bid for Tribble Mill Dam No. 2 lists the work:

1. Install erosion control, temporary access roads and temporary pedestrian access measures.
2. Drain the lake, build a cofferdam and run a water diversion system.
3. Demolish the existing concrete riser, the concrete impact basin, and parts of the spillway pipe and internal drain.
4. Build a new riser, a new impact basin and a riprap outlet channel.
5. Line the spillway pipe with cured-in-place pipe.
6. Remove trees, root balls included, from parts of the dam and auxiliary spillway, then regrade and plant grass.
7. Remove the temporary roads, pedestrian measures and cofferdam, and restore the site.

The reason for all this sits in a June 2022 county briefing. The dam was built in the 1980s, and structural assessments and diving inspections found that its outlet control riser "now needs complete replacement." The briefing said the project also had to rehabilitate the principal spillway pipe and fix "long-term seepage issues." At the time, the county estimated $324,000 for design and $2.7 million for construction, and it listed the project as ready to bid.

The bid documents classify the dam as low-hazard Category II. In a May 2021 county briefing, Category II is defined as a dam whose failure is not expected to cause loss of life. This is planned upkeep on aging equipment, not an emergency.

The same 2021 briefing gives a rough sense of scale. It projected Ozora's dam work with the lake "fully drained for 4 months," and Chandler's with the lake fully drained for 8 months. Those were early forecasts, not contract terms. They still point the same way as the scope list: Chandler's job is the longer one.

The Calendar From Here

As of this week, the project is in bidding. The dates come from the county's bid documents:

• Nov. 10, 2026: Mandatory pre-bid conference at Tribble Mill's Oak Pavilion, followed by an optional site tour.
• Nov. 18, 2026: Deadline for contractor questions.
• Dec. 9, 2026, 2:50 p.m.: Sealed bids due. The bid opening is held online only.
• 365 days after contract time starts: Substantial completion, with the dam ready to operate.
• 30 days after substantial completion: Final completion.

The one-year clock starts when the contract does, not when bids come in. Readers checking the lake next spring should count from the award, not from December.

The Rest of Tribble Mill Stays in Play

Chandler is one piece of a 713-acre park. The county's Tribble Mill page lists a fishing lake open to non-motorized and electric boats, a boat ramp, the 3.4-mile paved trail, unpaved equestrian, mountain biking and hiking trails, a cross-country course, playgrounds and pavilions. It also lists Ozora Meadows, which holds up to 3,500 people for large events.

The park's second entrance, at 2400 Chandler Road, has a picnic shelter, restrooms and a trailhead for the Lloyd N. Harris Greenway, which connects Tribble Mill to Harbins Park. The main entrance is at 2125 Tribble Mill Parkway, and the park is open from sunrise to sunset unless posted otherwise.

The contract also builds temporary pedestrian access measures into the work from the start, so walkers near the dam should expect a changed route rather than a dead end. Before a weekend loop, the county's Trails Hotline at 770.978.5270 is the fastest way to check what's open.

For anglers, it comes down to Ozora. It has been refilled, its boat access has reopened, and it holds a full stock of fingerlings that have been growing since 2025. In a year or two, Chandler should reach that same starting point.

At The Merritt Realty Group, we follow changes like this one because a park on the way to someone's house is part of what that house is. If you're wondering what nearby projects like the Chandler Lake work could mean for your home's value, ask for your free home valuation and we'll walk you through it.