Ohio State University would like to replace a sensitive riparian area on the west side of the Scioto River with a massive edifice of steel, concrete and asphalt. A $4.8 million boathouse would sit right on the water’s edge. The edifice itself would occupy 110 feet of the riverbank, and riparian areas around the facility site, which covers 250 feet of riverfront, would undoubtedly be seriously modified.

The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department (CRPD) is supporting this use of its public land for a structure that would be available only to a select few – the Greater Columbus Rowing Association (GCRA) and the OSU Women’s Varsity Rowing Crew.

The story begins in 1992 when the Columbus Waterways Management Task Force was convened by CRPD to assess the needs and future management priorities for Hoover, O’Shaughnessy and Griggs Reservoirs.

The Task Force’s work at Griggs Reservoir on the Scioto River in Columbus was initially prompted by local residents encroaching upon public property who were removing trees, mowing grasses, and in some cases, constructing sheds along the banks of Griggs Reservoir. Numerous prosecutions followed and a document--Land Stewardship Agreement—was developed that prohibits such activities and stipulates what a property owner can—with City permission—and cannot do with their property. The Task Force recognized 21 separate “management areas” within Griggs Reservoir’s parkland and identified 4 as requiring special attention, preservation and managerial oversight since these were the most actively used areas of the park. Duranceaux Park on the west side of the reservoir was among them.

Rowing at Griggs is practiced by some 120 or so adults through the Greater Columbus Rowing Association (GCRA), 2 high schools on the east bank and beginning in 1985, the OSU Women’s Rowing Crew that numbers about 80 athletes. CRPD operates Indian Village, an inner-city youth day camp facility on the reservoir’s west bank which consists of several acres of property, a swimming pool and two 1930s-era shelterhouses. One of these is occupied by GCRA, and since 1995 the OSU women have been ensconced in a pole building immediately behind GCRA’s abode.

Task Force members first mentioned a potential need for some type of boathouse in early 1993 and intermittently afterward, including “possibly” at Duranceaux Park, but 947 pages of Task Force documents show the group never officially determined where one would be placed, if at all. The public was not informed, even at a May 1994 public workshop, that Duranceaux Park might have a boathouse.

CRPD provided a “boathouse conceptual plan” situated at Indian Village to the Task Force in November 1994. City Council adopted the Task Force’s “Griggs Management Plan” in March, 1995, absent any Task Force recommendation.

In April 2000, predicated on Task Force “findings”, CRPD sought a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) seeking money to partially fund boathouse construction costs of $2.1 million. The site was designated only as “…on the west shore of the Scioto River at Griggs Reservoir”. The application was endorsed by GCRA, OSU and CRPD while under opposition, CRPD listed “None known”.

Fast forward to 2006. OSU began pursuit of a boathouse in earnest, targeting alumni contributions to fund its construction. The spiral-bound funding “package” showed the construction site being located immediately north of Fishinger Road Bridge and not at Duranceaux Park. Funding never came to pass and the project once again lay dormant…or so it seemed.

In February 2008, a Dispatch article heralded the August commencement of construction of a boathouse at Duranceaux Park. The article said that a 40-year lease had been signed between the City of Columbus and OSU on October 27, 2007. Property owners adjacent to the park--the bulk of whom have lived there 10 years or more--were taken by complete surprise. They demanded a meeting and explanation from the City.

On March 13 CRPD conducted a meeting at Indian Village and some 70 people attended. The vast majority of neighbors had received notice of the meeting only that day! CRPD staffers informed the audience that the public had been involved in these discussions as far back as the early 1990s and that the project had gone through proper channels. However, there is little evidence that anyone outside of CRPD, GCRA and OSU was involved or informed with respect to a boathouse being erected in Duranceaux.