By james art Madison Township will try to secure some extra money for an erosion control project at one of the community’s parks.
Trustees authorized Administrator Tim Brown to submit a funding application to the Lake Development Authority. In that application, the township will seek $50,000 in Lake County bed tax revenue to go toward building an armored stone revetment at Stanton Park, located at 5585 Chapel Road.
Brown, at the Oct. 24 trustees meeting, said he has already contacted Lake Development Authority Executive Director Patrick Mohoric about obtaining $50,000 in bed tax for the project.
“(Mohorcic) said he would probably recommend to the Lake County commissioners that they fund us with $50,000 if I submitted the application,” Brown said.
Trustees then unanimously approved a motion allowing Brown to apply for the bed tax funds.
Madison will add that money to the $1.02 million in federal funding already allocated to build the stone armor.
U.S. Rep. David Joyce, R-Bainbridge Township, helped ensure that for fiscal year 2024, federal funding is earmarked for the endeavor.
Madison Township plans to build a nearly 1,100-foot-long armored stone revetment to stabilize a bluff in Stanton Park that overlooks Lake Erie.
A revetment is a protective covering built along a coastal cliff, bank, or bluff to absorb and dissipate the energy of Lake Erie’s waves to reduce erosion. Armor stone, which comes from quarries, is often used as a component in facings.
The bluff, which sits on the north side of Stanton Park, has been eroded in recent years.
In 2021, the Lake Development Authority is managing a project at Stanton Park during which a contractor is grading the bluff and slowing the rate of erosion. A year later, emergency repairs were made to a 130-foot section of the bluff that failed.
In March 2023, due to high water levels and Stanton Park’s continued loss of land to Lake Erie, the Madison City Trustees authorized an application through Joyce’s office to seek federal funding for immediate bluff stabilization at the site.
Trustees learned in March 2024 that Madison Township would receive $1.02 million for the siding construction project. The money was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, which passed the US House and Senate.
At a meeting on Aug. 13, the trustees authorized Brown to enter into any agreements that are necessary for the U.S. government to release the funding to Madison Township.
It was during a workshop held just before the Aug. 13 meeting that Brown said he spoke with Lake County Administrator Jason Boyd about the possibility of receiving bed tax dollars to serve as additional funding for the bumper stone cladding .
Brown said it’s been about 1 1/2 years since he submitted the application seeking federal funding for the project.
The township administrator noted that armor stone cladding may be more expensive now than it was 18 months ago due to inflation.
“I just wanted to make sure we had the ability to have additional funds if we needed them,” he said of the plan to request a total of $50,000 in county bed tax revenue.
Lodging taxes are added to the total amount a person pays when they stay at a hotel, motel or bed and breakfast in Lake County.