“We can become sort of the Boulder, Colo., of the Midwest,” said Dusty Hall, the Miami Conservancy District’s staff representative with the Ohio’s Great Corridor Association, an organization formed in October 2010 to promote the Great Miami’s regional recreational potential.
“It’s there. It doesn’t require a massive infrastructure investment. It just requires vision and some good marketing,” he said.
Riverfront Corridor
The Miamisburg park, Miami Bend and a $4 million whitewater run to be built at RiverScape MetroPark in downtown Dayton are projects promoted in a July 18 letter from the Montgomery County Commissioners and the mayors of Miamisburg and West Carrollton. They are also urging Sen. Sherrod Brown to help convince the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a riverfront master plan in Dayton.
Excitement over the rivers’ potential has replaced fear of floods.
“For a long time, we turned our backs away from the rivers. Now we’re trying to turn ourselves around,” said Dan Foley, president of the Montgomery County Commissioners.
Efforts to win $300,000 in funding for the Corps study are on hold due to prohibitions on Congressional earmarks, said Michael Gessel, a vice president for the Dayton Development Coalition working in Washington, D.C. “We are in uncharted waters.”
Still the coalition, which works to fund economic development projects in the Dayton region, views the river projects as high priorities.
“The river is an enormous resource for our community,” he said. “It’s a resource ready to mushroom.”
Miami Bend in West Carrollton
Earlier this month, West Carrollton City Council agreed on Miami Bend as the name for the park and entertainment district, just south of the city’s Interstate 75 interchange, centered on a cascading whitewater channel to be built where a low-head dam now spans the Great Miami.
“It creates a tremendous opportunity to do something you don’t have in the Midwest, whitewater kayaking,” said Bill Covell, West Carrollton’s economic development director.
It’s the latest step for the city, which already purchased more than 5 acres adjacent to the dam for $1.1 million and invested $6,500 to hire a consultant to help the city win funds for the project from money available for low-head dams.
The whitewater park would be developed at the end of an entertainment district that would stretch from the new I-75 interchange, near where the Great Miami bends sharply as it flows south into West Carrollton.
Kayakers and canoeists could paddle here from manmade whitewater features planned near the Monument Avenue low dam, part of the fourth phase in the development of RiverScape park. The James M. Cox Foundation recently made a $1 million challenge grant toward the $4 million RiverScape project.
“These are tangible assets that are starting to line up,” Foley said. “We need to help each other find resources.”
The RiverScape dam and the South Montgomery Low Dam in West Carrollton were among four included in 2008 studies by the Miami Conservancy District.
Low dams at Tait Station near the University of Dayton Arena and in Hamilton in Butler County were included in the studies that focused on eliminating the dams if they were hazardous, and turning them into recreational assets. Water quality should improve, along with habitat for fish.
Similar waterway improvements have been completed in Reno, Nev.; Pueblo, Colo.; Missoula, Mont.; and nearby in Springfield on Buck Creek.
In addition to recreation in the river, the regional plan emphasizes opportunities on the trail system along the Great Miami and the Mad River from Dayton to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the two waterways comprising the spine of the corridor.
“It all links together,” Hall said, predicting within a few years a progressive, multi-day festival would demonstrate the series of recreational opportunities available along the corridor. Already the rivers are celebrated in events such as the Five River MetroParks’ River Summit.
Retaining the creative class
Recreation and tourism are relatively new economic development tools for the Dayton area. Driven in part by the reduced opportunities for traditional economic development, such as manufacturing plants, officials also see the new brand of economic development as a way to offer amenities attractive to young, creative professionals.
“We’ve got a ways to go. It’s absolutely key to bringing young people here and bringing young people back,” Foley said.
While still raising funds, Five Rivers MetroParks hopes to open the RiverScape whitewater feature in February 2013 —the 100th anniversary of Dayton’s Great Flood.
In West Carrollton, development of the whitewater park is contingent on the conservancy district winning funding for the low-dam work, Covell said.
Without it, the city’s entertainment district plan could lack a unique draw for tourists and new, young residents intent on getting outdoors.
“The young people that want a better quality of life. Maybe this is one more thing we have to offer them,” Covell said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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