Great Parks of Hamilton County says construction has finally begun on reconstructing Sharon Lake. Workers are slated to begin draining the 35-acre lake on or about April 2.
"We had some difficulty with permitting delays, and we had to go back to the drawing board and do a little more engineering design, the more we got into it. But now we're ready to move. It's very exciting," says Bret Henninger, chief operating officer of Great Parks.
Some of the engineering work led to the project having to be re-bid. The original projected cost was $8 million. The project now stands at $11.4 million.
"Part of that is construction industry trend, but the other part is this project, to the contractor, has a high risk of loss just because of the dynamic environment that they work in, where there's going to be flooding. ... If the lake basin fills back up, that sets them back on the schedule, and they may have to wait on the sidelines," says Henninger.
RELATED: Sharon Lake reconstruction and dredging ready to begin
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.
Improvements during this project include creating wetlands, adding rock weirs to control future sediments and silts, and a new wetland boardwalk, fishing pier and docks.
Once complete — now estimated at sometime in mid-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.
The lake and the walking trail around it are closed during construction. Work also will be done on the loop trail around the lake.
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."
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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. The redesign means some planned changes, like a kayak launch, are being pushed to a later phase.
Henninger previously told WVXU 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.
"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."
