Posted on March 29, 2018
By John Kline, Goshen News
The long-planned Goshen Dam Pond dredging project has hit another snag.
Dustin Sailor, director of public works for the city, informed the Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety Monday that the $1.1 million contract the city had approved with Michigan-based dredging company Gro America last October has since fallen through, requiring that the project be rebid.
The idea for the dam pond dredging project was first brought to the public back in early 2013 by members of the Elkhart River Restoration Association, a local nonprofit founded in 1983 with the goal of studying the needs of the Elkhart River and its watershed.
According to the ERRA, 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 pond property owners formed a partnership several years ago aimed at securing enough funding to implement a large-scale dredging project for the pond.
Established in October 2014, the Goshen Dam Pond Economic Improvement District is a 10-year agreement approved by the Elkhart County Board of Commissioners with the goal of raising funds to support the dredging of the pond. Under the EID, properties surrounding the pond are assessed an annual fee ranging from between $200 to $500 depending on the amount of frontage owned.
Rounding out the project’s current leadership is Sailor, who as head of the Goshen Engineering Department has been managing the project on behalf of the Goshen Dam Pond Dredging Advisory Board, which includes David Troup, a dam pond property owner and president of the ERRA, Adam Scharf, a Goshen city councilman appointed by the city, and Chris Martin, a dam pond property owner appointed by the county.
“The city had entered into a Phase 1 contract with Gro America to obtain permits for the dredging project. In 2017, the city attempted to enter into a Phase 2 contract with Gro America to perform the actual dredging work, but was unable to come to an agreement,” Sailor told the board Monday. “In order to put the project back out to bid, the original project specifications need to be updated for mechanical dredging versus hydraulic dredging and the permits need to be updated.”
Given that need, coupled with the heavy construction schedule the Goshen Engineering Department is currently facing in 2018, Sailor requested that the board allow his department to hire the consulting firm Abonmarche to handle the particulars of the update and rebidding process.
“Due to Goshen Engineering’s 2018 workload and due to the need to get this project back out to bid as soon as possible, Goshen Engineering needs to retain the assistance of an outside engineering firm,” Sailor said of the request. “Because there is an open contract with Abonmarche Consulting for inspecting this project once awarded, Goshen Engineering would like to retain Abonmarche Consulting under a contract amendment for an amount not to exceed $15,500 to update the project specifications and permits for this project.”
The board agreed, and the request was approved unanimously.
THE PLAN
Initially, advisory board members hoped to have approximately 34 acres of the pond dredged to an average depth of 6 to 8 feet. The plan involved dividing the pond into six sections that would be dredged according to priority and as funding allowed. The dredged silt would then be transported to farmland along Kercher Road where it would be spread out to dry.
City officials put the project out for bid in early 2015, and Grow America was selected as the contractor of choice with a low bid of $2.6 million.
Phase I of the project, which included development of the overall dredging plan, all necessary permitting, and design of the confined sediment placement site, access road, and staging area, was approved by the Board of Works in January 2016 at a cost of $143,500. At the time, it was anticipated that a contract for Phase II of the project, which includes the actual dredging work, would be finalized with Grow America later that year once all permitting had been completed and additional project funding secured. However, fundraising issues would eventually force the group to take a step back and reevaluate the overall scope and design of the proposed dredging.
Not counting the funding already spent on Phase I of the project, the group had secured just over $1 million for the actual dredging of the pond as of last fall — roughly half of the original goal.
Source: Goshen News
