Carrie Blackmore Smith

csmith@enquirer.com

The plan to construct a $3.6 million marina on Cincinnati's riverfront is drawing cheers and jeers as Cincinnati City Council prepares to vote on a budget that would secure its funding.

Some fear the spot along the riverbank near Great American Ball Park is unsafe. Boaters are piping up on social media with concerns about no wake zones and potential damage to their vessels.

Some question whether it will make money or become a financial burden.

City budget: What's going on

"This idea should be abandoned now," says Winston Folkers, who served as director of Cincinnati's department of urban development in the 1970s, at a time when he says the city paid for an independent study on whether to build a marina similar to the one proposed today.

The study found that a permanent marina was neither feasible nor practical there because of the current, fluctuating heights of the river and other factors, Folkers said.

The city opted instead for a more simple dock that was pulled out of the water at the end of each boating season.

That proved expensive and tricky.

Two different head boats connected to the docks sank through the years, according to city records and interviews.

The head boat acted as a little office where boaters checked in and out, said Jackie Binford, a spokeswoman for Cincinnati Parks.

The first one to sink was a repurposed tugboat, said Harry Addison, a lifelong boater and longtime member of the volunteer Waterfront Advisory Council. He couldn't recall the date.

The second, which was a little office on a barge, sank in 2011, the first year Cincinnati Parks took over responsibility for all of the riverfront parks and the old marina from the city's Recreation Commission.

"In 2011, while the head boat was in storage in Kentucky, flood waters reached above flood stage at one point and descended quickly," said Jackie Binford, spokeswoman for Cincinnati Parks. "The rapid descent of the river caused the head boat to tilt dramatically to the point that it took on water and ultimately sank."

The city paid roughly $440,000 for that head boat, according to a resolution passed in 2000, including $330,000 from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. It was in operation from 2006 to 2011, according to Binford. The parks department then sold the damaged head boat for $36,000.

The funds were deposited into Cincinnati Parks' Capital Improvement Fund.

This marina will be much different and far better than the earlier docks, said Addison, who along with two other volunteer boating enthusiasts helped Cincinnati Parks create the design for the current marina proposal.

The Army Corp of Engineers approved a permit for the project in 2012.

Preliminary design is for a 29-boat dock that would remain in the water year-round and feature electric, water and sewage hook-ups, a concession stand, laundry facilities and bathrooms.

Boat owners would be able to rent space for up to 10 days.

When the news hit last month that City Manager Harry Black had included funds for the marina in his budget, many in the boating community rejoiced.

"About time," one member of the Ohio River Boat Party Facebook group wrote.

Eden Park is the halfway point of the 981-mile Ohio River, between its start in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and end in Cairo, Illinois, Addison said.

"We are in an absolutely beautiful spot," Addison said. "There are not a lot of destinations along the river that are good for serving boaters. Cincinnati, with this marina, will be an attraction."

Park leaders, however, have not studied how much money the marina could bring in nor how much it would cost to operate and maintain.

The total cost of construction is also squishy.

Parks Director Willie Carden said in a public meeting last month that the park district will put the project out to bid early next year and "then we will determine if the $3.58 million is enough to do the project."

Addison predicts the marina will be a great success, attracting out of town guests to the city's sports stadiums, riverfront parks and restaurants.

"We believe the dock will pay for itself," said Addison, who was chairman of the Waterfront Advisory Council for a decade. The council was a group of community members that helped the Cincinnati Recreation Commission made decisions on the riverfront.

He said once council approves the funding the advisory council and parks department will start working with the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau to begin marketing Cincinnati's marina at "every dock from Pittsburgh to Cairo."

Jeanne Carroll, a lifelong boater who lives in Mariemont, said she's sure many in the area will want to use it, but warned that this part of the river has "terrible currents" and is "very dirty."

She doesn't own a boat at the moment but if she did, she wouldn't dock there.

"I'd be worried about damage" from currents and debris, Carroll said.

Parks officials have said debris will be diverted to protect the marina year-round.

It is one of the busier parts of the river, said Dale Appel, captain of Boone County Water Rescue team.

"I see it more of an asset than anything," said Appel, who has been in his role rescuing people since 1967. But the force of nature must be considered.

"When the river is not very friendly and it’s out of its banks," Appel said, "every dock is potentially in danger."

Marina funding breakdown

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Boating Infrastructure Grant: $1.5 million

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reimbursement for work on Smale Riverfront Park: $750,000

City budget: $750,000

State of Ohio's Capital Improvement Budget: $401,000

Cincinnati Capital Improvement Budget from 2016: $185,000

Total: $3.586 million