riverfrontcommons

A transformed riverfront in Covington is only $13 million away.

Picture a vibrant trail system with access to water sports on the river, better walking paths to enjoy the floodwall murals, a sprawling one-of-a-kind playground for kids and adults, all at the foot of the city’s most important resource: the Ohio River.

Currently a chain of broken sidewalks, parking lots, and vacant riverfront lots where restaurants used to float, Covington’s riverfront would be completely re-imagined as part of its piece of Riverfront Commons, the 11.5-mile stretch of river bank from Dayton to Ludlow spearheaded by Southbank.

The City had originally anticipated a cost of $4.2 million to bring its new riverfront to life but after engineering and geotechnical studies combined with creative design plans, that price tag swelled to $7.9 million, assistant city manager Larisa Sims said Tuesday night.

In for a penny, in for a pound

So, why not dream even bigger?

If the city could get the plans to be worth more than $10 million, it would meet the requirements under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants from the US Department of Transportation.

The case made Tuesday by Sims and city engineer Mike Yeager appears to be strong. The money would not only be used to create an economic development attraction from the Licking River to where the Waterfront restaurant floated for more than twenty years before accidentally floating away in 2011 and then announcing plans to return at Covington Landing before accidentally floating away again and sailing off for repairs in Boone County (the Waterfront’s plans are still on, Sims said), but it would also shore up Riverside Drive which, due to its crumbling condition, was referred to as possibly soon becoming “Drive Into the River” by Commissioner Steve Frank.

Eventually, Riverfront Commons would go all the way to Route 8 in the Covington city limits, an effort that could even be possible if the feds come through with the large gift requested by the city.

From concrete wasteland to green destination

The amenities along Covington’s riverfront have shrunk to almost nothing. The famed Mike Fink restaurant boat never reopened and was forced out of the city and now rests vacant in Newport. Covington Landing’s attractions are long gone. The Waterfront is doing whatever it’s doing in Boone County. Meanwhile, all of this nothing is taking place in the shadow of Cincinnati’s rising riverfront where apartments, a hotel, a massive retail and entertainment development, and business towers have joined the city’s two sports stadiums and slavery museum. 

On the Covington side, visitors and residents walk Riverside Drive to take in the stately antebellum mansions or to feed the large population of pigeons or geese or ducks that have assumed ownership of the former Mike Fink site. Mostly, Covington’s riverfront has existed in recent years for people to look at Cincinnati’s riverfront.

And what a view. 

But now Covington hopes its residents and guests may also enjoy the view east and west, too: a cobble beach with access for kayaks on the river, a trail system that passes under the Roebling Suspension Bridge and connect at the Waterfront site, a fishing area on the riverbank near Madison Place, an entertainment oval for events, a trail feature that brings guests within an inch of the water, all highlighted by attractive lighting, bike racks, and benches. “All those types of amenities you would expect to see when you’re biking, hiking, or coming to events,” Sims said.

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The Western Walk would lead visitors from Covington Landing to the former Waterfront site via an 8-foot wide trail that culminates with a recreation attraction unlike any other around. There would maybe be a zipline, climbing towers, moon bounces, and a structure to provide views into the city and across the river. “This is not provided in the region,” Sims said. “It would be a service to folks that are here and people that are coming to the hotels and the convention center. People might come from lots of other places.”

Queen City Water Sports could have a permanent home where the Waterfront was, complete with a training facility and location for Row Cincinnati, which could be called Row Covington, according to president Pedro Palacios.

Water recreationists could use the site for kayaks and canoes while younger students could participate three to five days a week in an after-school tutoring program followed by rowing practice.

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“It is for promoting the growing interest in water sports,” Palacios said. He added that his program is modeled after one in New York where inner city girls learn to row and then can possibly turn that skill into an athletic scholarship to college. “This example of Row New York just proves that one of our programs can be very successful, and that is just one. We also have adaptive canoeing and rowing, programs for adults. Row until you’re ninety! Indoor rowing, youth rowing, and rentals. It’s a very good idea.”

A natural customer base for all of the proposed riverfront attractions would come from the nearby hotels. Sims said that engineers are working on plans to enforce sidewalks to allow for direct access from the hotels to the trails.
 
Support strong but some neighbors have concerns

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Two features in the proposal have concerned residents of Riverside Terrace, the high-end condo building just east of the Suspension Bridge. One is a plan for a public restroom facility just across Riverside Place where a parking lot currently sits.
 
“Everything looks wonderful from this viewpoint,” said Bob Hebbeler, a resident of Riverside Terrace, referencing the renderings displayed at City Hall, “but when you’re looking at it from the condominiums, there will be views of that area from the balconies, the patios, and it even goes to (Riverside) Plaza. It looks like you’re looking right down on it. There’s some concerns with some of the residents.”
 
Hebbeler and his neighbors also have concerns about proposed changes to Riverside Place, basically the most northern block of Greenup Street, where parking spaces would be removed, the sidewalk would be widened, and a roundabout would be installed. Heppler said moving parking options further north combined with the roundabout could make for dangerous exits from any of the three garage exits at the Plaza or the Terrace.
 
However, Hebbeler is supportive of the overall project. “We welcome the project and we share your enthusiasm and we thank you for all of your efforts, for sure,” he said. “We know this is not an easy task. You have to please a lot of people and that in and of itself is a big challenge.”
 
“We’re not against (the restroom and parking changes) per se, but we think it needs to be discussed and well-planned for safety purposes and keeping the area nice and inviting to everyone.”
 
Timetable dependent upon federal government
 
For now, other than continuing initial design and infrastructure work, the city waits.
 
The Army Corps of Engineers continues its analysis of the area and TIGER grant recipients may not be known until the fall. If all goes the way city leaders hope, ground could be broken next spring.
 
For Covington to go it alone, the price tag nearly doubled because of the troubled infrastructure, the nature of the soil, and the requirements for elevation of areas along the 100-year flood plain. With the new proposal sent to the federal government for grant consideration, the price nearly doubles again, but the city’s contribution would be only half of what was originally planned: roughly $2.2 million.
 
“I think it’s a good blend of everything, a little something for everybody,” said Mayor Sherry Carran. “I know it’s frustrating in how long it takes with the Army Corps of Engineers, but I think we’re getting really close to having a project implemented.”
 
Note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Hebbeler’s name.
 
Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher of The River City News
 
Renderings displayed by City of Covington, photographed at Tuesday’s city commission meeting
 

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