Dunwoody has been routing stormwater into privately owned Kingsley Lake through six public outfalls for years without any documented agreement, easement, or permit, according to a founding city council member who filed open records requests and came up empty.
Daniel D. Ross, a Kingsley Lake homeowner and founding member of the Dunwoody City Council, wrote in a letter published July 27 that he searched records from both DeKalb County and the city of Dunwoody looking for authorization. "To date, I have found none," Ross wrote.
The dispute centers on a concrete spillway that collapsed in summer 2025 over a DeKalb County sewer line, opening a sinkhole near the Kingsley Racquet & Swim Club's tennis courts and playground, according to Appen Media reporting from March 16. The collapse exposed a county sewer line that leaked raw sewage into streams feeding Nancy Creek, according to the same report. The club spent $25,000 on security fencing to keep people away from the damage.
To protect the outlet structure from further deterioration, lake owners lowered Kingsley Lake by more than two feet. Ross described boats resting in shallow water, irrigation systems sitting on exposed silt, and at least one lakefront home listed for sale while the lake remains drawn down.
$2 million threat and the stormwater fund
Attorney Linda Dunlavy, representing the Kingsley Racquet & Swim Club, sent Mayor Lynn Deutsch and the City Council an ante litem notice — a required legal step before suing a Georgia government entity — in February 2026 demanding $2 million if no settlement was reached.
Dunwoody resident Zachary Humphries, writing in a separate letter published July 27, said the $2 million figure represents "nearly the entirety" of the city's stormwater fund. Humphries wrote that paying it out "would leave the rest of Dunwoody's people underwater — either in increased stormwater fees or houses flooded due to budget cuts with no real benefits."
The exact balance of Dunwoody's stormwater fund could not be independently confirmed.
City's position
City Manager Eric Linton said in a written statement reported by Appen Media on March 16 that Kingsley Lake is not a natural lake. A developer dammed a creek in the 1960s to create a private lake, Linton said, and the city "does not control the lake, the dam, or the flume that is damaged."
Linton pointed to language on property plats from before Dunwoody's 2008 incorporation stating DeKalb County was not liable for erosion or flooding from storm drains. He also said historical photographs show spillway damage visible as far back as 2010.
The city did not respond to a request for comment on the July 27 letters.
Calls for public ownership and dialogue
Humphries argued that if taxpayers fund the repair, they should own the lake. He envisioned a public lake where families could fish and children could paddle canoes.
Ross took a different tack, calling not for ownership but for conversation. About 60 homeowners around Kingsley Lake own the lake, dam, and spillway, according to the March 16 Appen Media report. Ross said in that same report that homeowners spend roughly $130,000 every two years dredging silt carried in by stormwater.
Ross wrote that the Kingsley community has repeatedly asked the city to sit down, review the engineering, and discuss solutions. Those requests, he wrote, have "largely been met with legal arguments and silence."
