Posted on May 9, 2017
By Garret Ellison, MLive Media Group
A state-contracted underwater study of the Grand River between downtown Grand Rapids and the Bass River inlet says dredging a powerboat traffic channel is feasible and would cost far less than previously estimated, although many questions about the impact a project remain.
The $100,000 multi-beam sonar survey released Wednesday, May 3 by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) estimates that dredging 23 miles of river to create a 50-foot wide, 7-foot deep channel large enough to accommodate 26-foot powerboats could cost about $2.1 million, with another $165,000 in annual maintenance costs.
That’s far less than a 40-year-old estimate developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which technically considers the entire 40 miles downriver of Grand Rapids to be a navigable waterway, although only the 17 miles from Grand Haven to the Bass River Recreation Area are still maintained.
The Army Corps estimated in 1978 it would cost more than $18 million in upfront costs to dredge a channel and remove old pilings and long-abandoned channel “wing walls” left over from bygone days when steamboats chugged the river.
Dan Hibma, a West Michigan developer who has been pushing a dredging study for years, said the updated cost estimate is encouraging.
“It’s a great first step,” Hibma said.
“This the first time the Grand River has ever had a topographic study done on the river bed for those 23 miles,” he said. “It’s like an all-time baseline for planners.”
Hibma, husband of former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and partner at apartment complex owner Land & Co., has been pitching local municipalities for years on a recreational boating link between Grand Rapids and the lakeshore called the Grand River Waterway, which would “complement” the planned downtown rapids restoration project.
Hibma is partnered up with former Republican state senator Cameron S. Brown. Together, the two have been pitching the economic development potential of built-out marinas along the river in Kent and Ottawa counties. The two say a boating link could have a $4.2 million local impact.
On Thursday, a day after the state completed and released the study, SeyferthPR of Grand Rapids began issuing promotional materials touting the benefits of a “minimal impact” shallow draft channel that would “restore the integrity of the Grand River for safe recreation boating” and “make 46 miles of river frontage accessible.”
Seyferth issued positive comments about the project from Grandville Mayor Steve Maas, Walker Mayor Mark Huizenga, and Tallmadge Township Supervisor Toby Van Ess that echo Hibma’s repeated assertion that the river is a “underutilized asset.”
A recent survey of Grandville residents indicated that waterfront access should be a priority when the city updates its master plan, said Maas.
“It certainly would be an enhancement for all of West Michigan and the general perception of what you can do in West Michigan,” Hibma said.
In Grand Rapids, it’s unclear to what extent a boating link to the lakeshore has been included in downtown planning talks related to the river.
Hibma talked to the Grand Action Committee about the dredging project during the development of a recent Destination Asset Study aimed at planning Grand Rapids future growth needs that Grand Action released in December. The study recommends leveraging the Grand River as a major tourism attraction in conjunction with the Grand Rapids Whitewater rapids restoration project.
Jon Nunn, Grand Action director, confirmed the non-released 90-page master asset report that’s undergoing final edits does refer to Hibma’s project.
The $35 million rapids restoration ends south of Fulton Street but riverfront improvements are planned south of the U.S. 131 S-Curve, where the city of Grand Rapids is searching for developers to deliver a large mixed-use project on its 16-acre property on the east bank of the river at 201 Market Ave.
Riverfront designs in the GR Forward downtown plan include boat access at 201 Market as well as passing mention of a navigable link to the lakeshore. Grand Rapids city officials and representatives of the Grand Rapids Whitewater project did not return messages seeking comment about the dredging plans.
Tim Mroz, spokesperson for The Right Place economic development program, declined to comment, saying the organization was not involved.
Critics say powerboats could endanger recreational users already on the river. Ottawa County maintains the Grand River Heritage Water Trail for canoers and kayakers, which would presumably be integrated into Michigan Department of Natural Resources plans to develop the state’s longest water trail.
Ottawa County commissioners were lukewarm to river dredging in 2015 and decided not to get involved after Hibma and Brown spent considerable time trying to get the county to oversee the survey using the state earmark as a grant.
Elaine Isely with the West Michigan Environmental Action Council said dredging the river for powerboats could increase conflict with paddlers.
“We’re having the same conversation on the Kalamazoo River in the Saugatuck-Douglas area,” she said.
Paul Sachs, Ottawa County planning director, said there’s “a lot of unknowns.”
Hibma visited county staff last week to update them the project.
“It’s good information,” Sachs said. “There’s much less dredging material than was initially anticipated. But there’s lots of questions still and additional extensive studies that have to be done.”
Ron Olson, DNR parks & recreation chief, said actual dredging would be a major challenge. The DNR was heavily involved in the survey, which was paid for with a $100,000 general fund earmark in a 2013 spending bill.
Edgewater Resources of St. Joseph did the survey work.
The Army Corps and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality would have to approve dredging permits and that would involve extensive public review.
Applying for those permits would require an environmental assessment of the impact to fish and wildlife in and along the river, as well as the implications of disturbing any legacy contaminants in the sediment. The study says testing would need to occur for toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium and zinc, as well as polynuclear hydrocarbons (PNAs) and Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Dredging a 7-foot deep channel would remove 97,732 cubic yards of sediment slurry and the study suggested that could go in a former landfill northwest of Grandville. The study recommends a combination of hydraulic dredging, which involves sucking sediment off the bottom with a vacuum, and mechanical dredging with buckets or scoops working off the shoreline or a barge.
The study notes that the “upper portion of the project area,” meaning the river closer to Grand Rapids, which once sported furniture factories and a major iron foundry on the river, “would require the majority of the total dredging.”
Several natural gas and petroleum pipeline crossings would need to be located as well as other unknown underground utility lines, the study says.
A channel would have to feature navigation signage and floating buoys that would be removed in the winter. The proposed channel design could support a boat up to 49-feet with a four-foot draft, but not deep-keeled vessels or large sailboats. The design analysis was based on a 26-foot boat.
As for the updated cost estimate, the study calls $2.1 million a preliminary number. Project “constructability and associated costs are challenging to estimate at this point due to uncertainty of the submerged objects identified.”
Olson called the entire undertaking a “very multi-dimensional project that would have to be carefully reviewed.”
Hibma’s team is optimistic nonetheless. They hope to fund the project through a public-private partnership and get more stakeholders on board.
Presently, the study says there’s as little as one foot of clearance during the May to September boating season in certain parts of the river.
The Grand River is “beautiful and I think it would be nice for others to share in the beauty of it,” he said. “When you’re on the river now, you’re constantly thinking ‘am I going to hit a shoal or a piling or break my rudder?'”
Source: MLive
