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The News-Herald: Mentor Harbor Channel rehabilitation project moves to Corps of Engineers

09/12/14

A project that aims to replace the infrastructure within the Mentor Harbor’s channel to Lake Erie has advanced to the next phase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Section 107 Program. 
 
U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Russell Township, said the project has been approved for a feasibility study.
 
“The completion of this project will improve access to Lake Erie for nearly 900 boaters and allow for safer navigation of the waters near Mentor Harbor,” Joyce said in a statement to make the announcement. “In my opinion, there’s no better place to start rebuilding our nation than right here in Northeast Ohio.”
 
Section 107 of the River and Harbor Act of 1960 provides authority for the Corps of Engineers to improve navigation, including dredging of channels, anchorage areas and turning basins, and construction of breakwaters, jetties and groins, through a partnership with nonfederal government sponsors such as cities, counties, special chartered authorities or units of state government, according to Joyce’s office.
 
The Lake County Ohio Port and Economic Development Authority, the designated nonfederal sponsor for the Mentor Harbor channel project, leased the channel from the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club in 2009 to seek federal funding for its rehabilitation.
 
The program would provide 100 percent federal funding for the project up to the first $100,000, said Peter Zahirsky, coastal manager for the Authority. For an amount above that figure, there would be a 50/50 federal and local split.
 
Officials said the channel’s current infrastructure dates back to the New Deal era and creates a difficult passage in rough weather for boats trying to exit Lake Erie because of its narrow width and orientation to prevailing winds.
 
The channel is about 200 feet wide in most places, and at its southern end an old barge was sunk many decades ago and narrowed the channel to about 60 feet, Zahirsky said. Removal of the barge is part of the project’s plan.
 
The project would not only replace the infrastructure, but also aim to reduce wave action from Lake Erie inside the channel.
 
The county agency leased the channel for a nominal fee because of its importance as an access point to Lake Erie for the county’s boaters and it is part of the county’s Coastal Development Plan.
 
“The channel is a significant piece of our overall coastal strategy,” Zahirsky said. “We are grateful to Congressman Joyce for contacting the Army Corps on our behalf, and we thank Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown for their support of the project as well.”
 
Zahirsky said in June 2013, there was a determination of federal interest, which was the first step of the process.
 
“They looked at the channel and looked at two preliminary designs to replace the infrastructure of the channel,” Zahirsky said. “According to the Corps, the feasible study takes about two to three years from the beginning of the study to when and if it moves to the construction phase.”
 

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