A rendering of the proposed Columbus riverfront project as seen on columbusriverfront.org.
City officials are continuing to work with state and federal regulators to get permits to move forward with a proposed riverfront redevelopment between the Second and Third Street bridges in downtown Columbus that has been dragging on for the past few years.
The project, which at one point had an estimated price tag of $8.6 million, seeks to address safety issues related to the deteriorating low-head dam in the East Fork White River without damaging wetlands that are located upstream or impacting the water level at Mill Race Park.
In addition, the project is expected to safeguard the riverbanks from ongoing erosion, including on the west side of the river near the Third Street bridge, which was the site of a landfill from 1938 to 1966 that is believed to have accepted industrial wastes, including solvents, acids, bases, paints and heavy metals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At the same time, city officials also have proposed building overlooks of the river, connections with the People Trail system and an in-water recreation area, branding the project as an effort to “create an iconic riverfront experience that improves safety.”
But over seven years since the Columbus Redevelopment Commission voted to accept an initial plan to redevelop the riverfront, officials are still navigating a maze of regulatory hurdles in which four environmental regulators — the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA — need to sign off the project before bids can go out and construction can start.
Since 2018, the project has gone through several rounds of discussions with regulators, including some agencies that told The Republic previously that the permitting process was taking longer than usual because they aren’t used to looking at installing recreational features in rivers as part of a dam-removal project.
“(The regulators) seem to always find either more information that they need or somebody else’s review that they ask for,” Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said. “…We’re frustrated at the length of time that this has taken, but that’s the process we have to walk through.”
So far, the city has received a permit for the project from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, spokesman Marty Benson told The Republic. That permit is currently valid through December 2024.
IDEM said last week that it was waiting on the city to submit certification that the project complies with the Clean Water Act “but (it) is expected to be submitted within the near future,” said spokesman Barry Sneed.
“(City officials) have spent the last few months working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the project meets Clean Water Act (guidelines),” Sneed said.
The Louisville Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it still evaluating the city’s permit application and has requested additional information from city officials.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently evaluating the permit application for this project and a decision has not yet been reached,” said Abby Korfhage, a spokesperson at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District. “We are awaiting the submittal of additional information from the City of Columbus to complete the permit application. Once USACE receives a complete permit application, a permit decision will be made.”
In addition, Lienhoop said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has requested input from the EPA, “and we’re still waiting on all that to come forward.”
In the meantime, the project has generated some regional attention and received some state grants.
In 2022, the riverfront project received a $1.72 million Next Level Trail grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and a $600,000 READI grant, a multi-million-dollar regional grant program in Indiana that is funded through the American Rescue Plan.
The project’s website says that Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, support the proposed riverfront redevelopment, though congressional records show that Pence voted against the legislation that provided the funding for the READI grant awarded to the project.
Currently, city officials are unsure when they will get the final green light from the remaining regulators. Once the city receives the approvals, officials plan to put the project out for bid, a process that can take two to four months, Lienhoop said.
Lienhoop, who is in his last year as Columbus mayor, said he is “hopeful” that construction could start on the project this fall, when water levels are expected to be more favorable for construction in the river.
But several pieces still need to fall in place for that to happen — or construction may not start until the next mayor takes office.
“I’m hopeful that we can get our approval from the EPA and the (Army) Corps of Engineers in time that we can get our bids out and back and reviewed and approved so that construction can start this fall,” Lienhoop said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see.”
