START OF PROJECT DRAWING CLOSER

Bids slated to be opened Feb. 11 to find contractor to slow erosion on northern side of Stanton Park

Competitive bids are scheduled to be opened on Feb. 11 in hope of finding a contractor to perform a long-awaited erosion-control project at Bill Stanton Community Park in Madison Township.

The Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority is serving as manager of the project, which will regrade the slope of a badly eroded bluff along the Lake Erie shoreline at Stanton Park, located at 5585 Chapel Road.

Madison Township Administrator Tim Brown said erosion on the northern side of Stanton Park has been steady and significant in recent years.

“I would say 50 linear feet (north to south) across the 1,100 foot long (east to west) shore is gone,” Brown said. “The bluff is typically 70 feet high.”

Bid advertisements recently were published for the project, which would create a more

gradual slope for the bluff and fortify the beach at the base of the cliff.

Stanton Park’s land has very sandy soil and a high-pressure water table, which causes blowouts and slumping on the face of the bluff above the lake. The displaced soil slides to the bottom of the bluff and then is washed away.

“The sheer bluff erodes in large chunks, which makes it dangerous to anyone who is close to the bluff because entire sections can fall away at once,” said Peter Zahirsky, deputy director of planning and development for the county Port and Economic Development Authority. “By grading the bluff to a gentler slope, we can prevent this and slow the rate of erosion.”

Along with regrading the slope, an underground drainage system will be installed to divert groundwater that might be contributing to the erosion. In addition, the dry and wet sections of the beach at the foot of the cliff will be reconstructed in a two-tiered design featuring gentle slants.

The probable cost of the project is estimated at $450,000, according to the bid advertisement.

Brown said between state and federal money, there is about $491,000 available for the project.

Funding consists of federal money left over from the township’s purchase of the park property in 1998, and a state capital grant secured for Stanton Park by the port authority about six years ago.

Some of the state capital grant funding was used to move utilities, and for engineering and other peripheral activities to prepare the bluff to be graded, Brown said.

Target date for completion of the erosion-control project is June 1, according to the bid advertisement.

Stanton Park is a 32-acre site that formerly served as the location of a Catholic Diocese of Cleveland youth camp.

A sign on the northern side of Bill Stanton Community Park in Madison Township warns visitors of dangers created by severe erosion to a bluff overlooking Lake Erie. Similar signs, connected by a thin yellow rope, are installed at other points along the park’s shoreline.

PHOTOS BY BILL DEBUS — THE NEWS-HERALD A badly eroded section of the bluff at Bill Stanton Community Park, overlooking Lake Erie in Madison Township, is shown on Feb. 8.