Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine came to my neck of the woods -- Lawrence County, specifically the park at old Lock and Dam 27 -- today to announce a series of grants for 21 projects in 12 Appalachian counties to expand access to waterways, revitalize historic riverfront downtowns and create new tourism and recreational opportunities.
We knew he was coming to make some sort of announcement about the Lock and Dam 27 property, but not many of us expected something that big.
Then there's Racine, Ohio, an incorporated community of about 683 people, which will receive a little over $10 million to upgrade its riverfront park. From what I've seen, Racine already has a nice riverfront park, so it will be interesting to get a look at plans for these changes.
And Gallipolis is getting $9 million, part of which is for building a dock to accommodate larger boats. By that I assume it means the town wants to get some of the passenger boats that cruise by to stop in town so people can spend a little money.
As for Lock and Dam 27, which is one of my favorite places along the river to photograph the river, sunrises, sunsets, people fishing, boats, weather, wildlife and about anything else that's there, the plan is to spend $5.2 million to repair the 1,400-foot lock wall that''s more than 100 years old and install a 100-boat marina with a boathouse.
These projects were chosen because they are close to being shovel-ready, Plans have been drawn up, and the state expects them to be pretty far along if not open for business in two years or less.
I will have more thoughts later. This is a lot to process. For sure the riverfronts of a lot of communnities in Ohio are going to look at lot different in a couple of years. Because of term limits, that will be DeWine's last year in the governor's office, and between this and other Appalachian initiatives he has launched this year, I expect him to have a pretty active farewell tour in 2016.
1 comment:
👍🏼
Post a Comment