BUCKEYE LAKE - Some residents awaiting a new Buckeye Lake dam want the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to pave and stripe the top when it's finished to create a waterfront bike and walking path along its 4.1-mile length.

BUCKEYE LAKE � Some residents awaiting a new Buckeye Lake dam want the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to pave and stripe the top when it's finished to create a waterfront bike and walking path along its 4.1-mile length.

It would be a nice cap to the estimated $110 million project scheduled for completion in 2019, providing more recreation for residents and visitors to Buckeye Lake State Park, said J-me Braig, who lives along the lake's north bank and is executive director of the Buckeye Lake Museum.

"I think it would be a great asset," she said.

Department officials, however, don't plan to include a paved path; they plan to plant grass instead, residents were told last month.

Officials haven't ruled out paving the top. A grass top is "simply one concept that has been discussed," department spokesman Matt Eiselstein said last week. The project budget doesn't include money for amenities such as a bike and walking path, but one could be added when the details of the final design are determined, he said.

Braig and Doug Stewart, who both serve on an advisory committee of residents and business owners established to communicate with the department during the project, said the new dam should be seen not only as a safety structure but also as a larger opportunity to enhance the Buckeye Lake region.

"You spend all that money, why wouldn't you make a path in the park for people?" said Stewart, who also would like to see benches and dog-watering stations placed along the lakefront. "You have the opportunity here to plan it. You're going to cheap out? It's like building a house but not putting the trim on it. You build the house, but it looks like crap. Why cheap out on the last part?"

Thornville resident Jeff Ritter, chairman of the year-old advocacy group Bike Buckeye Lake, also sees an opportunity to use the new dam top for cycling and walking. The group is trying to drum up political and corporate support for a multi-use path along the lakefront from Buckeye Lake village to Liebs Island in Millersport, and it is prepared to help establish funding partnerships with private donors if the state doesn't want to pay for the whole thing, he said.

"Wouldn't it be awesome to have a continuous 4.1-mile trail?" Ritter said. "We're trying to make it like the Scioto Trail Downtown. We see an opportunity. The dam could be the crown jewel if it's done right. Imagine what this could do for the economy and jobs."

A dam-top multi-use trail could eventually connect to other trails being developed in lake-region communities, providing safe, family bicycling around the area and increasing tourism, Ritter added.

Suggestions to include a bike path and questions about when construction will resume accompany a second summer of shallow water, fewer boats and less business in waterfront bars and restaurants.

The project to rebuild the nearly 200-year-old earthen dam, which was deemed at significant risk of failure by the Army Corps of Engineers, is being done in phases. The first � a seepage barrier to protect the dam � was completed early, thanks to a virtually round-the-clock construction pace. This allowed for closing the spillway gates to let rainfall start refilling the lake to about a foot below the normal 6-foot summer pool. Department Director James Zehringer and other officials announced this with fanfare right before Memorial Day weekend.

Since then, there has been a lull. A hot, dry summer has left the lake shallower than expected. No construction is going on, and it won't resume until spring. Where are all the workers, people want to know. Their absence has depressed some residents and business owners, Braig said.

"Everyone is down in the dumps," she said. "People don't understand why they're not working all summer. Why is it shut down?"

The project's second phase is being designed, and construction is scheduled to start in March. The project remains on schedule for completion in 2019, a year earlier than originally anticipated, Eiselstein said.

mlane@dispatch.com

@MaryBethLane1