Water flows swiftly over the Old Grist Mill dam in Seekonk. H. Charles Tapalian, owner of the nearby Firefly Golf Course, says that when the river floods, golfers can play only 9 of the course’s 18 holes.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

This story of statewide interest originally appeared in a local news section.

SEEKONK — The owner of the Firefly Golf Course, H. Charles Tapalian, is suing his neighbors at the Old Grist Mill Tavern over a dam there that he says is hazardous and in danger of failing.

A collapse of the historic dam at the Grist Mill could cause loss of “property, life, wildlife areas [and] wetlands,” Tapalian says in a suit recently filed in Superior Court by his lawyer, John B. Reilly, against the restaurant’s owner, Grist Mill Holdings Inc.

Tapalian’s next-door golf course, the suit contends, has become an “involuntary flood plain” during heavy rainfall, even though it is “hundreds of feet” outside the boundaries of the Runnins River.

Nearby residents whose basements are prone to flooding have blamed Firefly — and Tapalian’s future expansion plans — for their problems, “creating unnecessary and unwarranted negative opinions about Firefly,” the suit alleges.

Tapalian maintains that the dam over Runnins River, located behind the restaurant and at the mouth of Old Grist Mill Pond, doesn’t work and has flooded his golf course, “causing a loss of revenue and goodwill” and restricting play to 9 of the course’s 18 holes. Water has at times crested the dam itself and wound up in the restaurant’s basement, the suit says.

The suit charges that the owners of the dam have acted purposefully and negligently, and should be ordered to repair, maintain and operate the dam properly and keep up-to-date records of water levels and water discharges.

“The dam since probably the 1950s has been inoperable,” Reilly said in a recent interview. “Our belief is if the dam is operated [properly] you would be able to increase the flow through it and stop and avoid some of this flooding that takes place.”

A lawyer for the Grist Mill could not be reached for comment this week.

The earthen dam was reportedly constructed in 1745 — although records of its construction do not exist — to control and use the river to power a grist mill downstream.

A 2006 inspection by Pare Corp. of the dam for Grist Mill Holdings found that the dam was in fair condition and had an “inoperable” sluiceway and “aging stone masonry … with evidence of displaced and loose stones,” the suit notes.

The evaluation reported that water was flowing over the dam’s spillway and a high-water mark was located one foot above the spillway’s crest.

Town Administrator Michael J. Carroll said the town is not responsible for maintaining or inspecting a private dam. The town’s responsibility, he said, would be to notify residents if the Grist Mill dam ever breached, by following the community’s emergency-management plan.

“It’s a private matter,” he said of the dispute between Tapalian and the Grist Mill.

Tapalian, meanwhile, in a letter to The Journal and local leaders about the dam issue, said he still plans to build at Firefly a 120-bed assisted-living development and “extended-stay” facility, two office buildings, a “Main Street USA” shopping area accessible by golf carts, and up to 300 “independent-care” units. Those plans are still in the conceptual stage, according to the town Planning Board.

mwims@projo.com