I love blogging during my free lunchtime…
From the DDN about the UD River Summit:
100 expected at first-ever River Summit on Monday
Sunday, April 27, 2008
DAYTON — An invited group of public and private officials from throughout the Miami Valley will meet Monday, April 28, at the University of Dayton to discuss a long-term strategy for developing more recreation along the Great Miami River.
The gathering, called the River Summit, is being jointly hosted by the university and the Miami Conservancy District. About 100 are likely to attend.
The idea is to start a regional conversation about the river’s recreation potential and how it could impact the economy.
Representatives signed up to attend are coming from cities including Dayton, Sidney, Tipp City, Troy, Hamilton, Middletown, Moraine, Piqua, and West Carrollton. Other invited organizations include parks agencies, chambers of commerce, development agencies, and various merchants.
“We want to bring in people from Sidney to Fairfield to talk about how to use this asset, the river, to spur recreational development,” said Ted Bucaro, UD’s government relations director.
“We’ve never had a region wide conversation about it. It’s kind of like a big block meeting and the block is the river.”
Active projects on the Great Miami River include:
• The low dams. The Miami Conservancy District has a draft report in hand from a consultant on modifying four hazardous low dams — including the dam at Monument Avenue downtown — to create safe passage for paddlers.
The price tag for the modifications would rise depending on whether the modifications would create some white water attractions, said Kurt Rinehart, the district’s chief engineer.
Copies of the report are in the hands of city and parks officials. Cost estimates of the work per dam varies from $800,000 to $3 million. The report should be final by the end of May.
• A riverbank trail. The path, from Island MetroPark to Taylorsville MetroPark, could be joined by the end of 2009 by a section being worked on by Miami County, said Greg Brumitt, manager for Five Rivers Outdoors.
If construction continues, it might soon be possible to bicycle from Hamilton to Sidney and through Dayton along the trail.
Another waterway project being pursued on the Mad River at Eastwood MetroPark would cost about $500,000 and be built within a few months, during low water periods.
It would use natural boulders, stones and some concrete to produce waves, drop structures, fast water and maneuvering challenges along 2,100 feet of the waterway.
Dusty Hall, program development manager for the conservation district, said conversation at Monday’s summit will be about recreation trails and water travel.
It’s time for everyone to work more closely on the issues, Hall said.
5 responses so far ↓
redlady // April 28, 2008 at 1: 10 pm
All I can is, it’s about time. If Oklahoma City can turn it’s ditch into a waterway fit for Olympic trials (I lived there for 7 years, it was a ditch, that had to be mowed twice a year), Dayton could become a mecca for rafting/canoeing/kyaking sports.
Hilary // April 28, 2008 at 2: 14 pm
I agree redlady! The miami river is so nice, flat and wide! No shrubbery or grocery carts, like the nasty Olentangy river in Columbus.
Jeff // April 28, 2008 at 4: 53 pm
The Great Miami is a gigantic drainage ditch. The river doesnt become scenic unitl further north.
Michael // April 28, 2008 at 11: 10 pm
I guess you can define scenic a number of ways. At Island Metropark (within eyesight of Deeds Point downtown) the river feels scenic even though it’s in an urban area. Going the other way from Deeds Point, up the Mad River, you’ll find the only sizable coldwater fishery in the state. It’s healthier and gets fairly wooded around Eastwood Metropark.
Jeff, I can tell that you’re an astute man so I wonder why you would state the obvious by implying that the urban core is not “scenic.”
Sure, the city erected levees and turned its back on the river. Now, the city is turning back to the river. Riverscape was a start. It would be to Dayton’s advantage to invest more in riverfront development. One idea is to dismantle the low dams so as to eliminate the “drowning machine” downstream but preserve the attractive wide pool of water upstream. This idea, coupled with a whitewater park, was proposed for low dam just downstream from Riverscape but at an exorbitant price ($10 mil.) but a new proposal to be released this summer has reduced the price to $800k - $3 mil. The private sector investment is somewhere between $7 and $14 for ever $1 invested by the public sector. Not a bad ROI for a gigantic drainage ditch.
Jeff // April 29, 2008 at 7: 48 pm
When I said scenic I meant more wooded or landscaped. Sort of what one sees on the Stillwater or up along the Miami over at Taylorsville (along that trail to Tadmor).
I understand that this can’t be done as the intent is to maintain a clear and unobstructed channel as a floodway, and there are no plantings on the levee.
But it does make for a somewhat bland riverside environment downstreatm from Island Park.
Riverscape has shown how to work with the levee by having a floodgate that can be installed during high water. I think another place they could do some sort of riverside treatment would be in that parking lot east of the old YMCA and Baptist church, which is more in the heart of downtown.
This was the area of focus for some of the first schemes for the riverfront back in the early 1970s.
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