Posted on December 4, 2018
The start of a restoration project for wetlands along Lake Erie, previously expected to begin in November, has been pushed back.
The $1.2 million project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city calls for the conservation and expansion of 12.2 acres of native coastal wetlands near Waterworks Park west of Derby Pond along Ohio 163 (East Perry Street).
The project aims to control invasive plant species, such as phragmites, and create topographic variability to boost the diversity of native plants.
In addition to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is covering most of the project’s cost, in 2017 the city was also awarded $268,000 in grant funding from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as part of its Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program.
Port Clinton Safety-Service Director Olen Martin said the contract for the project has been issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and construction was previously expected to begin in November, but that plan has since “slowed down.”
Martin said there was an issue during the evaluation process regarding the fact that the land was federally acquired by Port Clinton and thus its value could not be used as part of the determination of the city’s match for the project.
“Because of that, what we’ve had to do is we are increasing our portion of the ‘work-in-kind’ that will take place,” he said.
That had to be approved, he said, which slowed down the process.
“The conversation we had (Tuesday) is that they’re going to hopefully meet yet in December with the contractor to lay out the work that we’ll be doing,” Martin said. “The work hasn’t really changed. It’s everything we expected to do and that they’ll be doing.”
There is a hope to get the project started sooner rather than later with winter approaching.
“My concern was with the cold, frozen ground, being able to move dirt. The longer we wait for a start is it going to become an issue. So we’re very sensitive to that,” Martin said.
Source: Port Clinton
