Posted on June 28, 2018
By John Kline, Goshen News
Plans for the long-discussed Goshen dam pond dredging project took a potentially significant step forward Monday during a meeting of the Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety.
During the meeting, board members set aside several minutes to open bids for the recently re-advertised dredging project. Submitting the sole bid was Superior Seawalls & Docks Inc. with a total project bid of $1,668,800.
The Illinois-based company, which has completed projects throughout the Midwest, specializes in dredging, seawalls, shoreline solutions, silt removal, riprap, docks, barge service and various other small to large waterfront work.
First proposed more than five years ago, it appeared the dam pond dredging project was finally about to happen last October when after much negotiation, a $1.1 million contract was approved with Michigan-based dredging company Grow America.
However, the project hit an unexpected roadblock in March when it was announced that the contract with Grow America had fallen through.
Given that unexpected withdrawal, board members in May approved a request by Dustin Sailor, director of public works for the city, for permission to re-advertise the project.
Following Monday’s bid opening, board members voted to refer the bid on to the city’s legal department for review and a recommendation at a future meeting.
LONG TIME COMING
The idea for the dam pond dredging project was first brought to the public 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.
Serving as the guiding hand of that partnership is the Goshen Dam Pond Dredging Advisory Board.
THE PROJECT
As originally proposed, project stakeholders had hoped to have approximately 34 acres of the pond dredged to an average depth of 6 feet. The plan involved dividing the pond into six sections that would be dredged according to priority and as funding allowed. The dredged silt was to be transported to farmland along Kercher Road where it would be spread out to dry.
City officials had originally 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 re-evaluate the scope and design of the proposed dredging.
After a number of community meetings and brainstorming sessions, the advisory board in January 2017 settled on a less ambitious plan, which called 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.
Not counting the funding already spent on Phase I of the project, the group had secured just more than $1 million for the actual dredging of the pond prior to the announcement that Grow America had pulled out of the deal.
Source: Goshen News
