“The levee is currently a barrier between the river and the neighborhood,” said Tony Kroeger, Dayton’s planning division manager. “While the watercourse and the (Wolf Creek) neighborhood share a name, there is limited relationship between the two. This will help address that situation.”
Wolf Creek is a tributary that snakes its way through northwest Dayton and ultimately feeds into the Great Miami River in downtown. Wolf Creek has levees on both sides to protect against flooding.
Levees are embankments (walls or banks of earth) that are meant to contain floodwaters.
But the structures along Wolf Creek block views of the river from surrounding neighborhoods and they do not provide convenient ways for people to get down to the waterway to enjoy it.
However, the city of Dayton and the Miami Conservancy District are working together to remake parts of the levee.
Dayton recently approved spending $300,000 to hire Stantec Consulting Services Inc. to complete engineering design services for the Wolf Creek levee system.
Dayton has said it plans to use about $2 million of its federal COVID relief funding to “complete the levee layback construction and add trail amenities.” The city, however, says it currently does not have an estimate of what the project could cost.
Stantec will design the lay back of the levee that includes a multi-use path from the Great Miami Trail into McIntosh Park on the north side and from the Wolf Creek Trail on the south side, said Joe Weinel, Dayton’s chief engineer.
Stantec’s study will take about six months to complete.
Laying back the levees means that earth will be removed or added to gradually change the slopes of the structures to make them more accessible and less steep, according to information shared by the city.
The overall heights of the levees will not change since they were designed based on flood protection standards.
The city plans to make improvements to about 700 feet of the levee on the northside of Wolf Creek from the Edwin C. Moses Bridge to Orth Avenue.
About 1,100 feet of the levee will be modified on the southside, from West First Street to Paisley Street.
Weinel says construction will take about six to nine months and could begin in the spring of 2025. The project might be finished by the end of next year, but it could go into 2026.
Portions of the levees will be made thicker with more gradual slopes to improve flood protection, said Don O’Connor, chief engineer with the Miami Conservancy District, which is managing bidding and construction for the project.
Flatter slopes combined with amenities such as ADA accessible ramps, stairs and benches will make the area and waterway more accessible and inviting for community members, O’Connor said.
“People are naturally drawn to streams and rivers,” he said. “This project will help reconnect these neighborhoods to the water and the regional trail system, which will improve quality of life.”
Kroeger, Dayton’s planning division manager, said the city also is providing some of its federal COVID relief funding to help create new housing in the Wolf Creek neighborhood
Wolf Creek is one of a handful of “focus neighborhoods” identified in the Dayton Recovery Plan. The plan is the city’s spending roadmap for its $138 million in federal COVID relief funds.
Redesigning the levees with more gradual slopes also will make it easier to maintain the structures while improving the look of the area, says Miami Conservancy District.
Dayton, Miami Conservancy District and Five Rivers MetroParks have made a variety of investments over the years to improve access to local waterways and increase recreational opportunities.
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