Planning to dredge and reconstruct the lake at Sharon Woods has been underway since 2017. Now, Great Parks is preparing to begin. There's a public information open house Wednesday to answer any questions people may have about the project.
Sharon Lake was created in 1936 as a recreation area by the Works Progress Administration. It was last dredged and cleaned in the 1980s, according to Great Parks.
"Over the years, we've had a lot of sedimentation from the watershed that's filled in on the lake and it's really impacted recreation there," explains Bret Henninger, chief operating officer of Great Parks. "We've designed a solution that will allow us to enhance and create new wetlands in the lake and actually double the size of wetlands, and at the same time, reposition sediment in the lake to open up areas for better recreational opportunities."
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Starting this summer or fall, Great Parks will begin draining the 35-acre lake. Henninger says construction will take about a year. Once complete — estimated around fall 2024 or spring 2025 — it could take several months for the lake to re-fill naturally with rainwater. The park district estimates there are about 68.4 million gallons of water in the current iteration of Sharon Lake.
Rather than collecting and removing the excess sediment like when Great Parks dredged Winton Lake at Winton Woods, the plan for Sharon Lake calls for using it to build new wetlands.
"We're going to use the sediment dredged from the major parts of the lake and push it up into a couple of the shallow arms of the lake and enhance wetland areas there," Henninger explains."There'll be more, better, wetland areas in the upstream areas of the lake, and then deeper pools that will be actually better for recreational pursuits (like) fishing and paddling."
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The lake and the walking trail around it will be closed during construction — work will also be done on the loop trail around the lake. There are plans for a modified path that Henninger says should still provide visitors with "a couple mile loop" for exercise and recreation. There will also be access points for people to catch a glimpse of the construction project.
While the lakebed is drying out to allow for construction, Great Parks notes visitors and nearby residents may notice an odor from "decomposing organic materials on the exposed lakebed."
The boat house will be closed during the work but the playground and snack bar will still be open. The plan calls for a new lake layout, fishing pier and other amenities.
Henninger acknowledges the restoration will have some environmental impacts. For example, Great Parks expects to lose fish when the water is drained. Henninger says some fish are likely to move downstream, too. Sharon Lake feeds into Sharon Creek, which flows into the Mill Creek at Evendale. The lake will be restocked when the lake is refilled. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources recommends against relocating fish between bodies of water, according to a Great Parks FAQ.
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"In the short term, we're going to have some loss of ecological function there, but in the long term, we're going to see some growth and availability of additional wetland acreage," Henninger says, adding, "...over the long haul, we're going to see better ecological function."
More information about the dredging, reconstruction, and interim walking path will be available at Wednesday's open house from 6-8 p.m. at Sharon Centre.
The total cost of the project is projected at around $8 million. Henninger says the work is fully funded by a combination of foundation grants, state and federal dollars, and Great Parks capital funds.
