Doug Davis at River City Canoe & Kayak spoke with the Bardstown Boaters about joining a State wide paddling coalition that would include several members of the Legislature and state Tourism Council of Economic Development to promote the sport of paddling throughout Kentucky and further the progress on some of the proposed boating projects in the Commonwealth.

Bardstown Mayor Dick Heaton announced his intention not to run for re-election in the fall at the close of Tuesday's city council meeting, pointing to ongoing complications from his radiation treatment for throat cancer.

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Engineering and preconstruction costs for the Bloomfield and Pottershop Road force mains is estimated to be $50,000 for the new fiscal year; the Corps of Engineers raw water study is estimated to be $27,000; and the Beech Fork/Rubble Dam study is estimated at $10,000. Erosion at the dam is the main problem, Heaton said. As for recreation opportunities on the Beech Fork, that won’t be possible without a grant, he said.

The Bardstown Boaters met with the Mayor Dick Heaton, Larry Hamilton, Larry Green and Mike Abell to review preliminary designs and cost opinions submitted by RiverRestoration.org.

The City was pleased with the report and would like pursue further examination of the project by State agencies while also researching various grant sources as funding opportunities.

The City was not opposed to the bladder whitewater feature design and would prefer to use the latest technologies for the recreation portion of the project should it go to construction.

The official preliminary designs for the Rubble Dam enhancements were submitted today to the City of Bardstown from RiverRestoration.org

The Nelson County Economic Development Association held a community think tank meeting at the Talbott Tavern. The Whitewater Park was mentioned, along with others, as an idea to help draw younger professionals to Bardstown.

The Bardstown Boaters formally submitted our opinions on the Beech Fork project designs and cost estimate to RiverRestoration.org and the City of Bardstown. The boaters met on February 24, 2010 to review designs. The consensus among the Bardstown Boaters favor alternative 2, precast structures, due to the the minimal maintenance required for this type of structure.

Received drafts of the Bardstown Whitewater Park preliminary design report, City of Bardstown Biological Surveys and Cost Opinions. These will be discussed at a Bardstown Boaters Meeting being held tonight.

Two sets of whitewater park plan drawings came in today for the Beech Fork. They are titled, Beech Fork Municipal Supply and Whitewater Enhancements - Rendered Master Plan

The cost estimate is to follow.

The Bardstown Boaters have been asked to attend a meeting at City Hall to discuss a stream monitoring project. It will be on November 19, at 5:15 p.m.

Currently the Bardstown Whitewater Park is moving forward. The City wants to do it and has spent $17,000 towards the project so far. We have Riverrestoration.org on board to design it, and it's all a matter of total cost. We are waiting to find out what that price tag is. Hoping for it in mid-November. Then we will begin figuring out ways to get the money.

Jason Carey at Riverrestoration.org reports to look for the alternative preliminary plans with opinions of costs by mid November.

Larry Hamilton with the City of Bardstown says that the cost estimate report is being prepared by Riverrestoration.org and will be out shortly.

Jason Carey reports that the cost estimate for the bardstown Whitewater Park is coming soon and they are currently trying to figure out a mussel survey.

The City of Bardstown billed the Bardstown Boaters, $2,500 for the club's part in paying for the initial study performed by RiverRestoration.org in August of 2008. The club paid this part of the bill with the money that was raised through various fund raisers. The total cost of the study was $10,000. $2,000 from tourism, $2,000 from the city, $2,500 from the boaters and $3,500 in trade from web design work by the designer of this site.

The City Council passed a resolution to move forward with part of Phase II from Riverestoration.org which will give the City a cost estimate on the whitewater and municipal water supply enhancements. The cost for this work will be $15,500. The City will be covering this cost by using money that was allocated to paint a water tower.

The Bardstown Boaters held a very productive meeting tonight at Bardstown Mills discussing future plans of moving forward with the whitewater park initiative.

Phase I - Reconnaissance Evaluation of Municipal Supply and Whitewater Recreation
Enhancements on the Beech Fork at Rubble Dam - has been completed.

Phase II is projected to cost $44,500. The Bardstown Boaters plan to seek donations and sponsorships from local businesses, hold fundraising events and seek out a non-profit shell for the money to be received.

Ideas ranged from bourbon barrel races on local water ways, card tournaments, educational and environmental grants and receiving funds from local government due to the whitewater park also being a municipal water supply project. Improvements to the rubble dam would serve recreational purposes as well as serving Bardstown's current and future water needs.

Spalding Hurst, the club President, will be building an informational packet that highlights the benefits of the park and outlines the details of the park's creation. Total costs are estimated by RiverRestoration.org to be between $350,000 & $500,000.

Future meetings are being planned to occur each month to discuss the progress on the park and all other club activities. Continue visiting this website for more details.

Jason Carey with RiverRestoration.org visited the site for the whitewater park.

And a few notes from the engineers visit this past Friday. He says the site is well suited for a whitewater feature. Costs will be lower than the "norm". Roughly figures $200,000-$300,000. One feature probably targeted at the 500cfs-2000cfs range. Will boost cities municipal water supply. Will stop the erosion that is currently happening on the banks. Bardstown City Engineers and Mayor were thoroughly impressed with the firm and delighted with all the news.

Links: Video | Kentucky Standard Article

In preparation for a proposal and visit for enhancement of the Beech Fork grade control structure to include whitewater recreation, the following items are being gatherd by the City of bardstown to help streamline the process.

1. Narritive of how well USGS 03301000 BEECH FORK AT BARDSTOWN represents the site and any major upstream reservoir or diversion projects that may affect the historic data record.
2. FEMA Flood Rate Maps
3. FEMA Flood Insurance Study
4. FEMA HEC2 Backup Data
5. Hydrology and Hydraulics report for the New Bridge
6. Geotechnical Borings at the new Bridge.
7. Drawings of the new bridge.
8. Contact for Corps of Engineers
9. Contact for Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
10. Contact for adjacent landowners
11. Aerial Photographs (with flown dates) of the site (tiff or sid preferred)
12. Topographic mapping of the site (AutoCAD prefered)
13. Known utilities mapping of the site
14. Contact for Division of Water or any other jurisdictions
15. List of potential required City, County and State permits.
16. Contact for Local PE that would be willing to work with us.
17. Contact for local surveyor.
18. Contact for local Geotechnical Lab.
19. Narritive on how the pump diversion is operated.

In attendance: Jason Ballard, Matt Peak & Spalding Hurst of the Bardstown Boaters, Dawn Ballard with the department of Tourism, Nicky Rapier with Economic Development, Mayor Dick Heaton, City Engineer Larry Hamilton, Administrator Larry Green and Financial Officer Mike Abell.

The meeting was held to discuss hiring RiverRestoration.org to do a conceptual desing on the Beechfork Whitewater Park. It was decided upon to use various funds raised through website design trade by Spalding Hurst, fundraising by the Bardstown Boaters, funds from the City of Bardstown and Tourism money to pay for the preliminary work.

Currently an official proposal for the work is being awaited from RiverRestoraion.org. Also Larry Hamilton will be in touch with the Colorado based firm to discuss more details about the conceptual design work.

Working with Riverrestoration.org in the redesign of their website for trade towards bring in their engineers to provide a conceptual design of the Bardstown Whitewater Park.

The Bardstown Boaters have contacted all the parties involved to begin a dialogue again about the whitewater park and to schedule a date for the conceptual designing phase of the whitewater park. The conceptual design work will be completed by the Stream Institute of the University of Louisville.

Art Parola and the University of Louisville have commented that they plan to begin surveying for the conceptual designs of the Bardstown Whitewater Park early this December.

The city is discussing whether the Tourism Commission or the City should be the primary applicant/sponsor. In the meantime they will be contacting the University of Louisville to discuss when they would plan to do the work and what will be needed to establish the preapplication work necessary on defining the project.

The Bardstown-Nelson County tourist board talked of ideas and promotions for the area including the Bardstown Whitewater Park on Tuesday September the 18th. Here is what the Kentucky Standard reported in the September 19th edition of the paper.

Proposed efforts to create a whitewater park for canoe and kayak enthusiasts near the Bardstown city dam. Although no new action has been taken by city government on the matter, the Bardstown Boaters group is still promoting the idea. Tourism chair Nicky Rapier said city officials have been receptive to the proposition as there is already a need to do some work on the spillway area.

Contacted all involved Bardstown officials, updating them on the current state of the Bardstown Whitewater Park. Suggested we continue researching whitewater feature designs by visiting other parks and by holding a meeting at the Rubble Dam of the Beech Fork.

Updates to the Park Design page were also made.

A meeting was held at City Hall in Bardstown. In attendance were Mayor Dick Heaton, City Engineer Larry Hamilton, UofL engineers Art Parola and Ben, Bardstown Boaters Spalding Hurst and Justin Janes and from Horizon Hoppers, Mike Hammons.

This meeting was held to discuss bringing in the expertise of Art Parola and his team from the University of Louisville. Larry Hamilton also presented his findings from data he had collected at the rubble dam on the Beech Fork.

One option discussed for the general design of the park would be to rebuild and repair the rubble dam to it's original height of about 9 ft. This would require bringing rock in to the location. Possibly 1000 cubic yards. Then from this we could build 3 runs varying in the water flow needed, the number of drops and difficulty in class. Each run could be built separately at different points in time if we wish.

So for example we could have a whitewater park in Bardstown consisting of 3 runs through the dam, ranging from class II, class II-III and class III+, runnable in low (150cfs) to high (1000cfs) flows, consisting of up to 9 drops total.

A meeting was held at the Salt River in Shepherdsville with University of Louisville Engineers Art Parola and Bill Vesely, Bob White, Mike Hammons, Bullit County Torism Commissioner Elaine Wilson. We looked at at the possibilities of a park on the Salt River. I discussed with Art Parola his ideas about the Bardstown Whitewater Park.

We held a benefit texas holdem tournament with 32 players, raising $800 for the whitewater park fund. This brings us to $2800 total at this date.

Conducted a meeting today with the Mayor Dick Heaton, City engineers Larry Hamilton, George Greenwell and Tourism member Nicky Rapier.

The city is going to consult with an engineering firm they are currently working with on another city project and ask them a few questions we have about our whitewater project. Mainly about getting the ok from the core of engineers to do work on the rubble dam and possibly instructions on creating a whitewater feature. Then we hope to actually make the modifications this summer when the water is at it's lowest.

Had a meeting with Bardstown city engineer Larry Hamilton. Talked about the history of the rubble dam and the whitewater park in general.

Larry Hamilton becomes a new city engineer.

With the rest of the funds secured, the Bardstown Boaters meet with the new Mayor, Dick Heaton, to discuss a $2200 donation from the city to go towards the site assessment from the McLaughlin Group. The mayor plans to make this request in February at the city council meeting.

Larry Green, City Administrator, begins finding possible grant money for the park.

• Grants Being Sought by City for Whitewater, Trails
• Possible Grant Money for WW Park

Bob White, a large proponent for the whitewater park, leaves the Kentucky Standard.

Bardstown's most outspoken proponent for outdoor recreational and environmental causes is moving on to a sister newspaper in Elizabethtown. Bob White has covered the Bardstown Boaters greatest accomplishments over the past 2 years in our local press. In doing so has helped us grow our efforts more than we ever could have imagined.

While there may be pretty buildings, whitewater and better economics in the future for this town, the people and their attitudes and approach to others is what will make Nelson County a wonderful place to live, work and visit. —Bob White

Thanks for your support Bob and good luck in Elizabethtown. We'll see you on the water!

The Bardstown Boaters hold their fifth meeting with Bardstown Tourism.

The Viking Canoe Club donates $500 to the Bardstown Whitewater Park.

Dick Heaton becomes the new City Mayor.

The Bardstown Tourism Commission commits $2,000 towards the site assessment.

Private donations begin rolling in for the site assessment of the Bardstown whitewater park. A petition is started to show support for the park.

The Poker Run is held to raise money for the whitewater park site assessment. Over $900 is raised.

The Kentucky Standard ran two articles about the fundraiser and the whitewater park.

The Bardstown Boaters meet with the City Council to inform them of the whitewater park.

About 20 people in support of a proposal to reconstruct a rock dam near the New Haven Road bridge over Beech Fork into a navigable whitewater feature showed up for a formal presentation to City Council Tuesday. The Kentucky Standard wrote this article.

The Bardstown Boaters begin talking to The McLaughlin Whitewater Group about having a site assessment completed at our proposed site in bardstown.

The Bardstown Boaters meet with Mayor Dixie Hibbs to discuss the project. She liked hearing our ideas and was very impressed with our presentations.

The Bardstown Boaters have a fourth meeting with Bardstown Tourism.

Right now we are researching other parks and compiling all the information we find. I hope to have an answer to every question concerning building a park in Bardstown answered by this meeting. Then we can go over them and start thinking about making a pitch to City officials to get their thoughts about the project.

The Bardstown Boaters have a third meeting with Bardstown Tourism.

The Bardstown Boaters have a second meeting with Bardstown Tourism. The Kentucky Standard writes this article.

The Bardstown Boaters compile a report on the potential for a whitewater feature in bardstown.

The Kentucky Standard reports there could be whitewater kayaking in Bardstown's Future.

The Bardstown Tourism Commission held a sports marketing meeting.

The Tourist Commission invites you to attend a sports marketing meeting with Coach Steve Small on Thursday, May 18, 7:30 pm in the Fiscal Court room of the Old Courthouse. This open forum is an opportunity to discuss tournament, sports event and recreation ideas.

Kentucky Standard Article