GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- One of the "most interesting and exciting" parts of the ambitious and expensive downtown Grand River rapids restoration project is planned for the West Side.

A redeveloped Fish Ladder Park "could be a destination for people who want to see what's happening with the river," said Jim Smalligan, an engineer working on the project who spoke at the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds annual spring forum, held at the Downtown Market on Friday, May 1.

The engineer with Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber engineer shared updated renderings of five public development sites along the Grand River between Sweet Street NW and Market Avenue SW that project managers hope will help increase public access to a waterway that's marked for major change.

"Hopefully next year" he said citizens will see actual site work on the $30 million Grand Rapids Whitewater campaign, which is currently in the fundraising and permitting process.

Related: Full coverage of the Grand River restoration project

The river restoration team is working in conjunction with city planners who are developing a new master plan for downtown and the river called GR Forward.

"The beginning is underway right now," said Smalligan. Project managers hope the planned public improvements will spark private commercial developments around the changing downtown riverside.

"We need to get those public-private partnerships in place," he said.

Preliminary renderings show public trails, fishing ledges, boat launches and other improvements designed to facilitate recreational activities like water skiing, paddle boarding, kayaking, rafting, tubing, fishing, ice skating and more.

Smalligan cautioned that final riverfront designs depend on GR Forward decisions.

Sites marked for public development include:

City land southwest of the S-Curve: The current public works complex at 201 Market Ave SW is where planners envision a "large-scale programmable open space" with trails and improvements that marry public access with ecological habitat designed to naturally manage flooding. The area could include new housing and other businesses that would "visually extend" downtown south along the river.

East bank property north of I-196: Six properties between I-196 and Sixth Street Bridge Park the city wants to purchase from Kent County for $10 million. The area would "establish a prominent gateway" to the North Monroe district and "create an active edge" along the river through walkways, trails and terraced access.

Property north of the I-196/US 131 interchange: The area around Fish Ladder Park on the West Side would overlook "the most exciting part of the rapids" with trails and a "large scale demonstration of stormwater technology" through a pumping station.

The Monroe Fire Station property: The southwest corner of Leonard Street and Monroe Avenue portion of the project would include a wading area and a new sturgeon spawning habitat and create a connection to the existing riverside trail that extends north of Leonard to Riverside Park.

Undeveloped land north of Leonard: An "Adventure Park" planned south of the rail crossing by Sweet Street NW would "create an adventure landscape that allows for people to experience the ecology while participating in extreme and active program." Ideas listed on the renderings include a ropes course, skate park, rock climbing wall, outdoor class area and another fish ladder.

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The river restoration project benefits from inclusion in the Urban Waters Federal Partnership in 2013, a designation meant to facilitate state and federal permitting.

Elements like terraced bioswales and other nontraditional approaches to flood management are designed to dovetail with the ongoing floodwall certification process the city is undertaking with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Plans include removing the Sixth Street Dam and other low-head dams in the river and relocating the lamprey barrier upstream between Ann and Leonard Streets. Planners also have to preserve habitat for the endangered snuffbox mussel, which was discovered in the Grand River downtown in 2013.

Renderings indicate the river would be navigable from south of Market Street all the way through Kent and Ottawa counties to Lake Michigan.

In Ottawa County, Grand Rapids developer Dan Hibma, a partner in Land & Co., is asking commissioners to fund a feasibility study on dredging the river between Grand Rapids and western Allendale Township. Since the 1970s, the Grand between the Bass River Recreation Area and Grand Haven has been maintained as "commercially viable" by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hibma and former state senator Cameron Brown want to see navigation hazards like pilings, shoals and other submerged obstacles removed from the Grand in order to facilitate private development catalyzed by a restored river downtown.

"This project would dovetail with the work being done to restore the river through Grand Rapids," Brown told Ottawa commissioners on April 27.

Garret Ellison covers business, government and environment for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at gellison@mlive.com or follow on Twitter & Instagram