Public development is working to pay for a whitewater park complete with kayaking, river surfing, a lazy river feature and more. Private development will handle the adjacent mixed use portion of the project, which will include dining and retail options, along with apartments, condominium, a hotel and a medical office.
The project will be enjoyed not just by local residents, but also by people who have to drive several hours, according to Mike Lucking, West Carrollton’s economic development director.
“We’re trying to create awareness for this, hence, trying to do this (information session) and I see us doing more of these because we just continue to get positive reaction from people ... who see what this can do in terms of bringing people to West Carrollton and the Dayton metro region,” Lucking told this news outlet.
The whitewater project is “going to be unlike anything else in the immediate vicinity,” he said.
“It’s not to diminish any other water opportunities within the area, but this is going to be the big wave and its going to create other opportunities to utilize the river that haven’t maybe been utilized to their full benefits,” Lucking said.
The information session also included questions from the public on the project’s ability to deal with flooding, handicapped accessible challenges, park maintenance responsibilities and more.
Christi Wisleder, civil project manager for McLaughlin Whitewater, said now that the whitewater park’s concept and design are moving forward, project organizers just kicked off the planning focus for the first phase of the project.
“We’re looking at that and just taking, over the past two days, input from all of the stakeholders on what features would be of most interest or most important to them,” Wisleder said. “We’ve started sketching and creating ideas and concepts of what amenities could be incorporated, where they could be located, paying attention to distances that people might have to walk, and things that complement each other.
That includes the in-river portion that is fully supported by city officials, she said.
“We’re moving forward with design of the dam ... (plus) the big surf wave, as well as the bypass channel,” she said. “It’s other features outside of that, that we’d really need additional definition on.”
Funding alignment will determine what the overall construction schedule looks like, Wisleder said. As of now, the first of three phases of the whitewater project is expected to start construction in 2025 and finish by late 2026.
Lucking said West Carrollton is actively looking for funds for the project, having already obtained approximately $4 million in funding so far.
It’s also working to determine how to create operational funds to support the project once it is operational, he said.
“The construction timeline overall is going to be completely contingent on what the permitting process ends up being and how long that takes, as well as what funding is available to support each potential phase,” Wisleder said. “And whether or not that’s phased will depend on decisions, as well as funding opportunities.”
Larry Dillin of Dillin LLC, said he plans to work closely with with McLaughlin Whitewater team to ensure the whitewater park “melds with the fabric” of the concepts Dillin LLC and Woodard Development are putting forth for the mixed use aspects of the River District.
“It’s a piece of land that you’re only going to get one chance to develop, so ‘think it through’ is what we say to communities all the time,” Dillin said. “You’ve got to figure out who you want to be before the developer gets there, otherwise the developer is going to give you what they want to give you.”
Dillin said the danger is doing a project in a gradual, spot development fashion.
“Spot development is when it happens one building at a time, as opposed to a collection of things happening at once and you get a critical mass going,” he said. “That’s how the marketplace can then determine the character and quality of what you’re creating. If you don’t get that, then it’s going to be very difficult for the marketplace to respond the way that you want them to respond.”
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