White-water course planned for downtown Manchester

MANCHESTER - Plans to convert a downtown section of the Maquoketa River into the state's largest white-water park were unveiled Monday night.

“This is exactly the kind of forward-looking project needed to attract businesses, jobs and residents to the community,” said former City Council member Leo Monaghan, chairman of the community's Good to Great Committee, which is sponsoring the project.

Monaghan said the white-water park can turn the flood-prone Maquoketa River, often considered a liability, into an attraction that brings people together around one of northeast Iowa's finest natural features.

With an estimated cost of $1.6 million, the course would begin about 350 feet above the Marion Street bridge and continue downstream, through the existing 9-foot, city-owned dam, to the railroad bridge, according to project leader Ryan Wicks, an engineer with TeKippe Engineering in Manchester.

The 800-foot-long course would have six drops, each of about 1.5 feet - twice as many drops as the recently completed white-water course on the Cedar River at Charles City, according to Shane Sigle, an engineer with Recreation Engineering and Planning of Boulder, Colo., the same firm that designed the Charles City course and is working on a project to enhance recreation at the Mon-Maq dam at Monticello.

Plunge pools beneath each drop would enhance fishing opportunities, Sigle said.

Wicks said the dam would be lowered about 5 feet and incorporated into the third drop.

The project would permit fish passage through the dam while maintaining existing depths above the dam, according to Sigle.

Mayor Milt Kramer said the city is on board and would likely fund about one-third of the cost. Later this year volunteers plan to kick off a fundraising campaign that they hope will generate another $600,000 for the project. Wicks said he thinks state and federal grants can be secured to complete the funding, with construction slated for next year.

Wicks said the white-water course is part of a long-term plan to create a Maquoketa River recreational corridor extending throughout Delaware County.

About 80 people attended Monday's meeting, and more are expected for a follow-up meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. March 7 at Hanson Auditorium at West Delaware High School. Charles City representatives will discuss the benefits their community has realized through the introduction last year of their white-water course.