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$4M river project gaining support

It includes luring more people to the riverfront.

River advocacy groups have pushed for the removal of the Monument Avenue low dam on the Great Miami River to allow for more recreational use of the river through downtown.

Staff Photo by Chris Stewart River advocacy groups have pushed for the removal of the Monument Avenue low dam on the Great Miami River to allow for more recreational use of the river through downtown.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Plans for the $4 million Great Miami River project include the removal of the Monument Avenue low dam to allow for more recreational use of the river. Staff photo by Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra Plans for the $4 million Great Miami River project include the removal of the Monument Avenue low dam to allow for more recreational use of the river. Staff photo by Chris Stewart

ENLARGE PHOTO

Aerial view of the Great Miami River dam removal and river restoration project.

ENLARGE PHOTO

View from RiverScape.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: River cleanup

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By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer Updated 4:31 PM Friday, July 15, 2011

DAYTON — A $4 million project to transform the Great Miami River downtown into a whitewater attraction is moving forward as supporters work to line up funding.

Within a few years, the downtown river landscape could look dramatically different with kayaks and canoes shooting gentle rapids, and downtown residents and out-of-towners drawn to the river for recreation.

Carrie Scarff, deputy director of Five Rivers MetroParks, said Thursday that she expects the city of Dayton, Montgomery County, the Miami Conservancy District, which owns the Monument Avenue low dam, and MetroPark to sign necessary legal agreements for the project this summer.

By September, MetroParks hopes to have final engineering construction plans that can be put out for bid. Permit approvals are needed from the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the city and county. That process could take up to a year. According to an early schedule, a bid could be awarded by Jan. 2, 2012, and construction could begin in February. A preliminary completion date is February 2013, allowing for a year of construction.

The biggest hurdle remains funding, Scarff said. Given the current status of federal and state finances, that’s likely to be tough.

Kurt Rinehart, chief engineer for the Conservancy District, called the plan “a priority project. Now, it’s in the slower, plodding-away phase of getting permits, agreements and securing funding.”

The plan would replace the low dam and its dangerous five-foot drop and deadly downstream boil with two stretches of engineered limestone blocks or boulders that would reach across the river east and west of the North Main Street bridge.

One stretch would be at RiverScape and the second in the vicinity of the YMCA building. The rock piles look like a dam, but have engineered passages through for watercraft.

Each stretch would give paddlers a ride through a safe two-foot drop. The limestone blocks would be arranged so that experienced paddlers could take a more challenging passage and less experienced could use a gentler drop. Play areas for kayakers would be arranged.

To improve the river now, almost 900 volunteers are expected today and Saturday for the Clean Sweep of the Great Miami. By the time it’s over, local groups and hundreds of volunteers will have combed most of the 170 mile length of the Great Miami.

Past years have averaged about 31 tons of trash collected along the entire stretch of the river. Metals are separated for recycling, said Linda Raterman, co-chairwoman of the clean-up.

“There are proper places to put your trash,” Raterman said. “The energy used to dump trash in the river illegally is better spent finding the right place to put your trash.”

Great Miami  River project

Highlights of the project: Removal of hazardous Monument Avenue low dam, installation of two engineered rock formations in the river to create a downtown whitewater attraction.

Cost: $4 million estimated.

Who is leading the project: Five Rivers MetroParks.

Completion date: Feb. 2013.

Economic impact: Expectations of luring more people to live downtown and boosting tourism from water sports enthusiasts.

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