Janet Rios of Youngstown, right, got a look at the shoreline of McKelvey Lake near the Jacobs Road bridge Wednesday with relatives. Because of items that were under water but now visible, she called the lake a “kind of tourist attraction.”... Staff photo / Ed Runyan

YOUNGSTOWN — Janet Rios went to McKelvey Lake on Wednesday afternoon with her family to see lake conditions that have not existed before.

She regularly drives the Jacobs Road bridge over the lake and saw recently that the water level had dropped, exposing new areas of shoreline — and she wanted to check it out.

“Nobody has ever seen it this low before. It’s kind of a tourist attraction,” she said.

She found it interesting to see what things the lower water levels had exposed. She listed a car, safe and clam shells. Two rusty guns also were found, according to reports. Other items seen along the shore Wednesday were tires and pieces of concrete reinforced with metal.

The reason for the lower water level, according to Aqua Ohio, is that contractors are beginning to make repairs to lake infrastructure, and lowering the water level was necessary as part of the work.

Youngstown agreed to take ownership of the lake in 2020 and is obtaining it at no cost in a deal that involved Aqua Ohio and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy.

The lake had been owned by Aqua Ohio, and had been a backup water source for the company for nearly 40 years. Aqua Ohio no longer needs the lake for water use, according to Vindicator files.

Aqua Ohio agreed in 2017 to sell it to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which obtained an $831,000 Clean Ohio Conservation Grant that year to fund 75 percent of the $1,108,000 cost of buying the 400 acres, including the lake. The conservancy provided the remaining $277,000.

The sale was finalized Dec. 22, 2020, with the conservancy transferring the property to the city the same day at no cost.

Aqua Ohio agreed to fix up the dam at a cost of about $1.5 million.

The city plans to make the lake a public resource.

In December 2020, Councilman Jimmy Hughes, who lives across the street from the lake, said: “If we did nothing but let it be used by the citizens of Youngstown that would make everyone feel good. There’s an opportunity to utilize it as a benefit to the people of Youngstown. It can be a jewel of Youngstown.”

The 400 acres includes the 125-acre lake, 1.3 miles of streams, 26 acres of wetlands and a forest.

erunyan@vindy.com