Posted on November 3, 2020
Ducks take a breather on wood floating near the Goshen Dam June 24, 2019. Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety members on June 24, 2019, authorized the funding of a $37,000 study aimed at exploring the potential use of the Goshen Dam Pond for flood control. A project that would have dredged the pond now appears dead.
GOSHEN — The Elkhart County Commissioners and the Elkhart County Stormwater Board terminated their part of an agreement on the dredging of the Goshen Dam Pond during their back-to-back meetings Monday.
The agreement to study and fund the dredging of Goshen Dam Pond was made in February 2016 between Elkhart County, the city of Goshen and the Goshen Dam Pond Economic Improvement District. The EID was made up of dam pond property owners who agreed to pay an annual tax toward the funding of the dredging.
Funding never materialized for the project and has essentially left the project dead in the water.
PROJECT HISTORY
The idea for the dam pond dredging project has been around for decades. The idea resurfaced in early 2013 when members of the Elkhart River Restoration Association brought it before city and county officials.
According to the nonprofit, the 140-acre pond behind the Goshen dam has become filled with sediment over the course of its more than 150-year existence. The silting has resulted in a reduction in the pond’s depth, the group says, and has also created significant aquatic vegetation growth. The shallow water also limits the recreational use of the pond and has resulted in degradation of fish and wildlife habitat, according to the group.
Faced with such a predicament, the city, Elkhart County and property owners around the pond formed a partnership several years ago aimed at securing enough funding to implement a large-scale dredging project for the pond.
As originally proposed, the project involved dredging approximately 34 acres of the pond to an average depth of 6 feet. The plan called for dividing the pond into six sections that would be dredged according to priority and as funding allowed.
A $2.6 million contract with Michigan-based dredging company Grow America was approved by the city in early 2015, though fundraising issues would eventually force the dredging advisory board to take a step back and re-evaluate the scope and design of the proposed project.
In January 2017, the board settled on a less ambitious plan, this time calling for the dredging of about 17 of the originally targeted 34 acres, and dividing that dredging between five of the six primary areas of focus identified in the original plan.
A $1.1 million contract was approved for the work in October of 2017, again with Grow America, though the project would hit yet another roadblock in March of 2018 when it was announced that the contract with Grow America had fallen through.
In light of Grow America’s abrupt exit, Board of Works members in May of 2018 granted city staff permission to re-advertise the project.
A request for bids was issued in June of 2018 and one bid was received, submitted by Superior Seawalls in the amount of $2.2 million, though the bid would ultimately be rejected given that it was nearly double the project’s available budget of about $1.2 million. The project has been in limbo ever since.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other matters, Elkhart County Commissioners:
Also, the Stormwater Board had a public hearing on updating the Elkhart County code on stormwater user fees. No one spoke during the hearing. The changes, which were to align the code with updates that have been made, were approved. The updates will next move to the Elkhart County Commissioners for approval.
Goshen News reporter John Kline contributed to this article.
Source: goshennews
