Mentor Harbor channel study a go

Local, federal parties agree to fund analysis

Efforts to protect Mentor Lagoons Marina and boater safety took another step with the city of Mentor authorizing an agreement to proceed with a feasibility study.

City Council recently approved entering a cost-sharing agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake County Ohio Port & Economic Development Authority and the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club.

The study will examine a project likely at the mouth of the Mentor Harbor channel. City Council held a work session on the potential collaboration in February.

The analysis is estimated to cost $650,000, with the expense

split among the federal government and local sponsors. The latter are expected to pay about $100,000 each.

The study may take two to three years, said Peter K. Zahirsky, the Port Authority’s director of coastal development.

“This is a good step forward,” he said. “Now we’ll turn the agreements in to the Army Corps to secure funding at the federal level and they will be providing an updated project management plan, which will outline the way the study will be conducted. We expect that in the next week or so.”

The construction cost could be between $1.7 million and $2 million, according to a Determination of Federal Interest in the project in 2013.

“They seem to be most interested in protecting the mouth of the channel so it provides a safer egress for boats and to provide an overall safe harbor off of Lake Erie in this part of the lake,” City Manager Ken Filipiak said.

The work would reconfigure the channel and remove a sunken barge partially impeding boat traffic.

One component of the study will be an intensive engineering/structural analysis to determine the best design, which will include a precise cost determination, Zahirsky said.

If the study supports the project’s feasibility, federal funding would be sought for construction.

“Usually these DFI projects come with 80 percent federal funding and 20 percent local match,” Filipiak said.

The channel walls are estimated at 60 to 70 years old and are starting to fail, said yacht club manager Jaime Cordova.

“If that were to happen, then we’re no longer a yacht club, we’re just a building close to the lake,” he said. “We are very fortunate that the Army Corps of Engineers is helping fund this. … It’s in all of our best interest to find a way to get

“They seem to be most interested in protecting the mouth of the channel so it provides a safer egress for boats and to provide an overall safe harbor off of Lake Erie in this part of the lake.” — City Manager Ken Filipiak

this done.”

The channel project was among priorities identified in a 2014 study by Abonmarche of Benton Harbor, Michigan, in conjunction with CT Consultants. The firms were paid $12,960 to assess the facility’s condition, regional market, marina’s place within the market, and cost estimates for needed maintenance and upgrades.

In 2016, the city received results of another marina market analysis from The Danter Company of Columbus and CT Consultants. It offered several options ranging from preservation to residential development.

City officials in March said they have decided to leave the property as is for now and reinvest revenues generated by the 90-yearold marina into incremental infrastructure upgrades. The 20-year debt to purchase the 450-acre Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve & Marina was retired last year.

FOCAL PLANE PHOTOGRAPHY Undated aerial view of the Mentor Lagoons Preserve.