Posted: 6:00 a.m. Monday, Oct. 12, 2015

River Center project remains on track for 2016

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ed-richter/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

Negotiations have begun to acquire property along the Great Miami River for a proposed river recreation facility near downtown Middletown, which officials hope to begin constructing next spring.

MetroParks of Butler County and the Miami Conservancy District, which controls the land along the river, are working out details so that the project can move forward, said Kelly Barkley, MetroParks senior manager of community relations.

She said a problem has arisen with the title to the land because part of the river has moved about 1,000 feet since the Great Flood of 1913.

“It’s been hard to figure out who owns what property,” she said. “Everyone is working cooperatively and in good faith. We have to go through all the steps to make sure our ‘T’s’ are crossed and ‘I’s’ are dotted.

Brenda Gibson, MCD’s spokeswoman, said she could not comment at this time because of the negotiations.

However, Middletown city officials said earlier this year that the city holds perpetual recreation easements along the river from MCD.

Last February, MetroParks announced it received $2 million in state capital funding for two strategic projects, one of which was putting $1 million toward the construction of the Middletown River Center, to be located along the 90-mile Great Miami Recreation River Trail. The remainder of the funding was to be used for the installation of artificial turf for two of the 22 existing grass fields at the Voice of America Park Athletic Complex in West Chester Twp.

Barkley said the presence of the Great Miami River and its trail are tremendous assets that are currently underutilized by the general population, both locally and regionally. The trail system serves a population of about two million people, she said.

“The concept design is still being refined to enhance connectivity to the trail, the river and downtown area,” she said. “We’re still planning to do what we promised to do…. This is will be an economic development driver for the region.”

The 3,100 square-foot River Center will have drinking water stations, restrooms, public meeting space that can be reserved and a ranger substation that could also accommodate volunteer trail monitors. The facility’s features will support programming and trail based recreation, Barkley said.

She said the actual site for the River Center has yet to be determined but is expected to built just south of the AK Pavilion. While there is no specific timeline for the project, including groundbreaking, the targeted grand opening is set for sometime in 2016, she said.

In the city’s 2004 master plan, that included a strategic plan for downtown Middletown, it envisioned a Riverfront District that transitioned from the existing industrial area to a residential use after the Downtown Core District was revitalized. The plan noted the Riverfront District would be ideal for residential development overlooking the river to connect people to the river, bike path and downtown. It also said green space or an expanded Smith Park would be preferable to its current use.

While the city has envisioned in its long-term planning that the area near the riverfront could evolve into a mixed-use zone complete with residential and commercial uses, a number of challenges remain, city officials have said in the past. The city has rezoned part of the area along the river, but there are portions that are still zoned as an industrial area and work has been done to remediate various environmental issues at the former Wrenn Paper nearby.