When The Numbers Don't Add Up

Get Ready for a New Park along the Great Miami River

Let me preface this by saying this is a difficult story to write. First off, there are plenty of moving parts to it and trying to nail down all the details is like nailing jello to the wall; there is always a chance that some part of the story will get missed, or the context isn’t clear. Those are things that I worry about every time I hit the publish button, and today’s work is no exception.

And as I have stated time and time again, I am no journalist. I took three quarters of composition in college, and not one of those classes dealt with anything about journalism. In other words, the journalism you see practiced here, if you want to call it that, is done in real time — warts and all. All I am trying to do is to explain and explore the stories I see hiding in plain sight when it comes to the ways our local hometowns are managed and lead. Those things that hide in plain sight often lead to more questions and more discoveries.

This past week, the Dayton Daily News reported that the city had secured over $11 million in grant funding for the work that is involved with the Great Miami River Recreation Connectivity Project. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as the project has grown in both scope and complexity.

The original idea was to remove the low head dam from the Great Miami River. The argument was the low head dam was a hazard for recreational boating and by removing the dam the river would become safer and water quality would improve. The city commissioned a study, and it was determined that removing the low head dam and getting water flow to the old channel of the Great Miami River would cost roughly $2.24 Million dollars.

But, the study went a step further and also looked at what it would take to put in a recreational trail on the south shore of the Great Miami River from Treasure Island to roughly where the current low head dam is now. At this point, the project changed. The main driver of this project wasn’t about removing the low head dam, it was about expanding the city’s recreational trail network. And not only did the scope change, the price tag changed as well; adding the new recreational trail changed the $2.24 Million project into one that was now well over $5 Million.

The project changed yet again as the City added more elements, including a $160,000 for improvements to Herrlinger Park and a $1.7 Million street project on South Crawford Street that includes the installation of a 10’ recreational trail on the west side of the street.

All together, these improvements add up to $7.189 Million. Quite the price tag. But going back to the original story, the $11.5 Million already secured by the City cover the original $7.189 Million price tag. In fact, the Dayton Daily News article stated that “The $2 million included in the state capital bill for Troy’s Great Miami River Recreation Connectivity Project leaves city leaders confident the approximate $12.3 million needed for the project will be raised.”

In other words, we need $12.3 Million in funding for a $7.189 Million price tag.

Something didn’t make sense.

I emailed a city staff staffer, pretty much explaining the story as I saw it above. The response I got 48 hours later was that $7.189 Million project price tag is more in the neighborhood of $9.5 Million.

Knowing that some of those original cost estimates have some age to them, seeing a $7.189 Million project turning into a $9.5 Million project didn’t help explain why the city needed to secure $12.3 Million in funding. The only logical explanation for a $2.8 Million funding gap is that there must be something else as part of this project that we aren’t being told.

This publication reached out to City Hall to see if there are other parts of this Great Miami River Connectivity Project that have yet to be announced. Seeing how an original project to remove a low head dam, now includes pickleball courts, disc golf, and two new recreational trails, it is not difficult to see how things could be added.

Well, there is something to be added that hasn’t been publically discussed.

The additional work plans to develop “Riverfront Plaza Park” at a cost of $1.1 Million. The information I could find on the plaza is not great, though a thorough cost breakdown was able to be secured. While there is a clear cost, it is not clear about where this new park will be (though being near the Great Miami River seems to be the most obvious location).

From my own recollection, there hasn’t been much, if any, discussion about the development of a new public park. In fact, if you asked residents about the parks and recreational needs of the community, a new public riverfront park probably doesn’t make the top of the list of what the public wants, especially when it seems like we already have a riverfront park with open space, boat launches, restrooms and even an amphitheater like Treasure Island. More traditional amenities such as baseball fields, football fields and even a splash pad seem to be more of the talk of the town.

Even more, as much as the east side of town gets a bad reputation, that part of town has more public parks than nearly any other part of the community. Most notably, Boyer Park and Herrlinger Park are with in a ten-minute walk of each other, and Trostle Park isn’t that far from most east-enders as well.

Other neighborhoods, such as the town’s northeast neighborhoods, have a huge lack of public parks. Even the city’s consultant on the new Comprehensive Plan noted that newer neighborhoods lack public parks, a policy decision where the Board of Park Commissioners allowed for developers to pay fees rather than dedicate public park land.

But in the end, it makes sense that the city administration would try to get more funds and then plug more projects into what the city bureaucrats want done. Why? Because that is how this local government operates. We have discussed how the administration paints city council into corners before:

What do you think? Are you excited about a new riverfront plaza park? Do these new improvements meet our community’s recreational needs? Our paid subscribers are more than welcome to leave their ideas and insights in the comment section.

A New Way to Support This Work

Our readers and subscribers have been asking for a new way to support the work being done here at Civic Capacity! Some of our readers do not like the idea of having to sign up for another subscription service. Some of our subscribers occasionally want to give more support through a one-time transaction.

Civic Capacity is partnering with “Buy Me A Coffee” to give our readers, subscribers and friends an opportunity to give one-time support to Civic Capacity. Personally, I don’t like coffee, but I will never turn down a nice iced tea. If you feel compelled to support this effort, just click the button below.

Thanks for reading today’s Civic Capacity Newsletter! Please feel free to share this information with your friends and neighbors.

Also, please consider subscribing to our work. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For less than $1 a week, you can get timely and conversational updates about the decisions that are impacting you and your community!