Monroe will soon address severe erosion along Dicks Creek, allowing the city to finish its portion of the Great Miami River Trail.
In July, the Miami Conservancy District and MetroParks of Butler County partnered with the city to provide money to stabilize the streambank.
The financial support will help the city keep taxpayer costs low, spokesperson Monica Dexter said. She added it will also allow Monroe to fulfill a promise made to bicyclists.
“Monroe was looking into trying to complete our portion of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail, and we were unable to do so because the erosion in this portion of Dicks Creek was so bad and only getting worse,” Dexter said.
The Monroe Area Community Improvement Corporation will manage the funds.
Monroe will contribute up to $72,500 to run the project and inspections, while the conservancy district will pay $225,000 and donate land to the city. MetroParks is expected to contribute between $375,000 and $525,000 using American Rescue Plan Act Funds appropriated by the Butler County Commission.
“These regional trail projects cannot be done just by one agency. They're so complicated,” MetroParks spokesperson Katie-Ely Wood said. “It didn't feel right to not share when there is a regional issue that we could all tackle together.”
Ely-Wood said it’s a good use of money because the Great Miami River Trail provides benefits for the community beyond transportation.
“It connects local businesses,” Ely-Wood said. “The trail is a great health tool, right? People can hop on the trail, walk, bike, take care of themselves, be out in nature.”
MetroParks is also working on several other gaps in the river trail, Ely-Wood added. When completed, it is expected to span nearly 90 miles from the Piqua in Miami County, north of Dayton, through Fairfield in southern Butler County.
Dexter said the city is beginning to build portions of the bike path leading up to Dicks Creek. Restoration there will likely be finished before the end of the year and is unlikely to impact recreation.
In addition to the river trail, the restoration will allow the city to complete Bicentennial Commons Park that sits along the trail, Dexter added.
“That's a park that actually used to be a local amusement park, so a lot of people have an emotional connection to that space,” Dexter said. “It's kind of been a little bit unfinished as we work towards completing the creek erosion.”
High water and strong river flows have eaten away at the streambank for several years, said Miami Conservancy District spokesperson Sarah Hippensteel Hall.
“Not just a few inches, but many feet of land had been lost over time from these really erosive flows,” Hippensteel Hall said. “And so the land where the trail had originally been planned really was just no longer there.”
With so much soil loss, Hippensteel Hall said the project requires a “hard engineering solution” with materials that will be resistant to future erosion.
In addition to stabilizing the land, the project will replant greenery along the stream so the trail will be forested for future users, Hippensteel Hall said.
“They want these connected off-road trail experiences,” Hippensteel Hall said. “We all know that working together to solve this problem is really going to benefit not just each of our own communities or agencies, but the entire region.”
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