Mar 29 2008
New Whitewater Kayak Course in Kent, OH?
A week or two ago, I posted a blog entry about efforts to place whitewater kayak courses in Flint, MI and Dayton, OH. Given the die-hard nature of participants in the sport, both areas would serve the local kayak community.
Well, the push for kayak courses in the region appears to be spreading like a virus. Now the community of Kent, OH is planning a $1.5 million dollar course on the Cuyahoga River. Given that Kent is roughly two to 2.5 hours from Monroe, this would place the new run within a daytrip of Monroe kayakers. Here are excerpts and a link to the Akron Beacon-Journal article:
”The river is one of our greatest assets,” city manager Dave Ruller said. ”We think it will be a catalyst to the economic revitalization for our downtown. On a lot of levels, it’s a good fit with Kent’s river heritage.”
The goal is to improve the ability for people to enjoy the river, which is in a gorge and runs through downtown. The project involves not only trying to develop a whitewater section for avid paddlers, but also making it easier for people to play and fish there.
The overall project area runs from the Crain Avenue Bridge to John Brown Tannery Park, and also includes work at River Bend Park.
City leaders have been talking about the proposal for more than a year and hired Recreation Engineering and Planning, a design firm from Boulder, Colo., to see if the project was feasible and to offer recommendations.
The state has $3.6 million available for such boating projects, but receives requests totaling $13 million to $16 million each year. Typically, eight to 12 projects are funded.