The lake at Sharon Woods is officially reopen to the public. Great Parks of Hamilton County cut the ribbon on the Sharon Lake restoration project Thursday.
"Visitors love their Sharon Woods, and we're so happy to be here today to celebrate the opening of its newest amenity," said CEO Todd Palmeter during a brief ceremony.
"Complex projects like this aren't cheap. They do cost a lot of money, but thanks to Hamilton County voters who have supported our levies, we're fortunate to have the funding to do such great projects. We're looking at more than a $17 million total for design and engineering on this project."
Funding came not just from levy funds, but a combination of outside funding from foundations, the Land & Water Conservation Fund, and the State of Ohio Capital Improvement Fund.
The work began in early April 2024. The 35-acre lake was drained and dredged, new boardwalks were installed along with a kayak launch, and other improvements.
One of the biggest projects looked the most unimpressive during the reconstruction — moving of sediments from one part of the lake to another in order to construct wetlands.
Janet Broughton Murray, chief of planning, tells WVXU she thanks people for their patience.
"I hope that everyone will see it was worth the wait. This was a complex job. There was a lot of sediment to move around, and a lot of the work happened in parts of the lake that were hard to see. Now that it's open, folks will be able to come out and see where all that sediment moved," she says.
The lake had collected a lot of dirt and sediment over the decades. 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.
Construction crews repositioned the accumulated dirt and sediment to make the main portion of the lake more amenable to fishing and water recreation. Rather than getting rid of all the excess dirt in the main body of the lake, it was moved to the northern and southern edges and used to create wetlands, a beneficial habitat for certain plants, insects, amphibians and other animals and wildlife.
"The project really protected the water quality of the lake and restored it back to the recreational amenity it was before," Broughton Murray says. "By relocating the sediment that accumulated into the lake to create new habitat, new wetlands, that'll be another feature for people to enjoy and explore while they're at the lake."
The trail is fully open, too
Park visitors reacted swiftly to the reopening Thursday. One jogger immediately changed course to take in the new route, and families were spotted enjoying the new path along the lake.
Christine Ghizas enjoys regular walks through Sharon Woods. She's been keeping a keen eye on the construction and pleasantly surprised to find the path along the lake open Thursday morning.
"I didn't know this was happening today," she told WVXU. "I was going to do my usual walk through the back loop, but now I'm going to experience the lake. [I'm] excited; it's a beautiful day, sun's out, finally, in Ohio, and I'm going to go around the lake."
The 2.9 mile walking trail is now fully open, with the exception of a small spur on the east side of the lake that's being used by contractors preparing to begin work on the next project: the new harbor area.
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